Unusually, the top story on Texas Tribune is a very LGBT-friendly piece on so-called 'gay conversion' therapy.
Here's an example of some of the prose:
The suicide of a 17-year-old Ohio transgender girl whose parents sent her to a therapist to "convert" her has refocused national attention on so-called gay conversion therapy. But despite calls to end it from President Obama, gay rights groups and medical associations, the controversial practice isn't likely to face a statewide ban in Texas.
I say unusually because this is not what I would call a "hot-button" issue when you take into account the bill the article is referring to is still mired in committee and unlikely to get out. Given that this is fairly low on the Lege's radar it's curious that it's receiving much space at all.
Whether or not you're a supporter of reparative therapy (I'm not FWIW) both the tone of this article and the language on the two other articles relating to LGBT issues are decidedly pro-LGBT and anti-the opposition. Also the last linked article appears to refer to a rally in which Texas Wins seems to have participated (or even ran, sponsored and organized) but the doesn't note who the organizers were, OR that Texas Wins, an advocacy group who advertises their membership includes religious leaders, and that they advertise for LBGT rights, anywhere in the story. Regardless of your position on LGBT rights this should concern you as a consumer of media because it appears that the Tribune's coverage on the issue is tainted at best, slanted at worst, diminished in credibility either way.
Even more concerning is that most of the Tribune's advertising appears to be advocacy based including this ad from Parkland Hospital discussing their unpaid medical care while articles about Medicaid expansion have no mention that there are groups actively advocating for expansion who advertise on their site. So this is a systemic problem for the Tribune then, not just something related to a single issue.
All news reporting organizations who wish to remain a going concern basically receive revenue from one of three sources, sales of the product (newspaper, magazine etc.), donations (for non-profits) and advertising revenue. It is a necessity that any donors or advertisers who are related to a particular story be specifically and fully identified in the same way it's key that their product (if for sale*)be labeled with a price. It's OK for a news organization to have an editorial point of view, in fact, overseas it's understood that they do and it's fully disclosed what that point of view is. In America however the media is a true believer in a neutrality that doesn't exist, and the Texas Tribune is one of the biggest apostles of this fallacy.
The thing is, it's very clear, in their wording and who they select as experts to provide quotes, which way the Texas Tribune is leaning on any particular issue. It's no secret then that the web-site is pro LGBT rights, pro-increasing state funding for infrastructure, and pro-Medicare expansion. What's not clear is that these are advocacy positions adopted by Tribune advertisers, featured prominently in banner ads. These advertisers are not disclosed at all in the stories themselves.
Not only does this do a disservice to the readers but it opens up the Tribune to questions of journalistic intent that is not really fair to the reporters and editors. Minus official Tribune disclosure and policy it might seem as if the opinions come from those who wrote the stories or that the advertisers swayed them to write from a certain perspective. Whereas, if the Tribune would properly disclose, within the stories, that groups advocating for "position X" advertise or are donors to the site then it would give the reader a full picture of what is going on, and who might potentially be involved in the editorial process. Again, it's not wrong for the Tribune to be the progressive leaning news of Texas, but it's improper for them to try and do so by omitting information that allows readers to make their own determination.
By failing to disclose key-advertisers who are taking advocacy positions on the stories in which they report the Tribune is failing a basic tenet of good journalism. They could fix this pretty easily but, given their poor history and reactions to calls for the same in regards to donors, I suspect everything will just remain the same over there and Texas' Lock Step Political Media will continue it's downward spiral into irrelevance.
