Curious what's going on locally in politics in America's 4th largest city?
Believe it or not you're not likely to find it on the Politics and policy page on the website for the former newspaper of record.
As of now, 7:48 AM, January 8th, 2019 the most recent story showing up on the page is dated....
12/29/2018 (note: I wrote this story last night but verified this morning.)
Want a story from August about local leaders pushing for the $2.5 Billion dollar bond election? You can read that, it passed in November with over 60% of the vote mind you so you're probably a little late.
Want to know that Harvey victims were still struggling back in April 2018? Covered.
How about a December 19th, 2018 about Houston struggling to expand it's sidewalk program? You're in luck.
All of the stories I linked to were penned by Mike Morris, who has either been on vacation for just over a week or who honestly can't find anything in local Houston politics and policy to write about. Even on the front page of HoustonChronicle.com the most recent story I can find relating to Houston Politics and Policy is this December 12th story on the delay of the vote for the Houston Airport System renovation contracts. Surely something has happened with those right? Or there's more to the story on these right?
For all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth regarding the downfall of newspaper media, and their self-prescribed "critical role" in the function of democracy the fact is you're more likely to get Twitter take-downs of the CFPI Halftime show or (from time to time) soft-core porn pictorials on Chron.com than you are actual hard news and that's too bad.
Because there are a lot of messes to try and sort out in Houston but the Chronicle has clearly chosen to feature click-bait and (erratic) editorial content over actual hard news. You know, the stuff that is ACTUALLY critical to public interaction with democracy?
Houston doesn't need more j-school grads combing Twitter, and it sure as hell doesn't need the unhinged ramblings of Chris Tomlinson, Erica Grieder or Lisa Falkenberg.
Tomlinson is a business reporter who hates actual business, Falkenberg is just special and Grieder is just....well...erratic? Oversold on her own brilliance which is really not a thing? A public meltdown waiting to happen? (again)
Judging by the stories featured it's clear that the Chron has it's priorities all out of whack, and that Houston civic engagement is suffering because of it. Their subscription rate continues to decline, as does their relevance within the City. We're started a new year, but we're saddled with the same old crap-fest of a newspaper.
The Dallas Morning News is currently suffering the same fate, and they just sadly laid-off 43 of their staff. Reportedly shrinking their news staff to 20 people. Twenty people to cover all of the Dallas Metroplex.
How long before the Chron does the same? Turning itself into nothing more than a gossip rag with a couple of political opinion writers?
Not that anyone will notice. You'll still (presumably) be able to log onto HoustonChronicle.com and view reporting that's almost a year old.
Sad.
