Texas paper spikes column critical of major advertiser

Romenesko has linked to a troubling story about the Hearst-owned San Antonio Express-News and its decision to spike a column from a veteran writer that took the HEB supermarket chain to task for the dilapidated condition of stores in predominantly black neighborhoods, and the shoddy quality of meats sold there.

Challenged by a writer for the Plaza de Armas news site, Express-News Editor Bob Rivard said this:

You are free, of course, to campaign against us by asserting without any evidence that we are not publishing what you want us to publish because H-E-B is a major advertiser. I’d suggest instead that we approach any story about H-E-B based on its long-standing and well-deserved reputation in the city, region and state as a best-in-class business, leading corporate citizen, and a company and ownership with an unrivaled record of philanthropy and support for public education in Texas.

So... it's not the company's money that led to the column being spiked, it's the company's influence that led to the column being spiked... influence that stems from making lots of money.

Circular logic does not get the paper around its responsibility to keep a watchful eye on all powerful corporate citizens, even the "leading" ones - "without fear or favor" does not work well when editors pick favorites.

(Let me disclose that I tried to buy a six-pack of beer at an HEB grocery store in Elgin, Texas a couple years back and was refused because I had an out of state ID. Pointing out that the beer also came from out of state did not change the manager's mind. So, one could argue I'm less than objective about the chain.)

Layoffs at the Ventura County Star

The layoffs continue at the Ventura County Star. Sports columnist David Lassen got word Tuesday that he'd been fired - a month shy of his 25th anniversary with the paper. He's posted a two-part farewell to readers (links here and here). Here's an excerpt:

The meeting was brief, mostly because I was stunned. I was told the envelope contained the “involuntary separation plan,” information on filing for unemployment, and my final paycheck — two weeks’ pay en lieu of two weeks’ notice, plus settlement of outstanding vacation time. And details of the severance package — which could be worse, but could obviously be a whole lot better for someone cast out into a state with 10 percent unemployment, and a resume of work in a dying industry that dates to age 14. ...

I e-mailed the Lakers to cancel my seat request for Thursday’s game with Boston, one of four assignments that had already been on my schedule. The other three were high school playoff games — exactly the kind of thing that are supposed to be crucial to the “hyperlocal” strategy that is the buzzword of most newspapers, but that would no doubt go uncovered now, because there was one less person to cover them. ...

Newspaper layoffs aren’t really that big a deal any more, in the grand scheme of things. There’s not anyone in the business who hasn’t seen a friend downsized, or a face-of-the-paper veteran summarily dismissed, even though those are the kind of people that give papers their distinguishing features, make them unique in a corporatizing climate of sameness.

The County Star's sports and features editors reportedly received pink slips this week as well, and the entire copy desk and design department got laid off as the Scripps-owned paper prepares to outsource all news desk functions to a "universal copy desk" in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Former San Bernardino Sun sports writer Paul Oberjuerge penned a farewell to Lassen here.

A library of books barred from Texas prisons

One thing prisoners have a lot of is time. One way to pass that time is to read. But prisoners in the Texas system have a short list to choose from, considering all the publications banned by the state's department of corrections.

From the Austin American-Statesmen:

Novels by National Book Award winners Pete Dexter, Joyce Carol Oates, Annie Proulx and William T. Vollmann have been banned in recent years. Award finalists Katherine Dunn and Barry Hannah are on the Texas no-read list, too, as are Pulitzer Prize winners Alice Walker, Robert Penn Warren and John Updike.

Prisoners can't peruse certain books by Pablo Neruda and Andre Gide, both Nobel laureates. "Krik? Krak!" by Haitian writer Edwidge Danticat, who last year won a MacArthur "genius" grant, is prohibited behind Lone Star bars. Books of paintings by some of the world's greatest artists — da Vinci, Picasso, Botticelli, Michelangelo — have been ordered out of state correctional facilities.

And just because a book is a best-seller in the free world doesn't mean it's available on the inside. Harold Robbins, Pat Conroy, Hunter S. Thompson, Dave Barry and James Patterson belong to the don't-read fraternity. Mystery writer Carl Hiaasen does, too, as do Kinky Friedman and Janet Fitch, whose "White Oleander" was an Oprah's Book Club selection.

John Grisham has had four blockbusters banned since 2005. And inmates will have to wait for parole before diving into "Precious," the book by Sapphire that last year was turned into a critically acclaimed movie.

Political connections don't seem to count for much, either. Her father may have been governor and president, but Jenna Bush's "Ana's Story: A Journey of Hope" made the banned list in November 2008.

Access

A Texas school district recently changed its media policy to say that officials can turn down interview requests "if official press credentials are not presented or available." A local blogger said the policy was an attempt to marginalize social-media types, and district officials did acknowledge the change was made to deal with the rise of the Internet.

Setting aside whether this is wise policy, the new rule highlights a dilemma for hyperlocal and subjective reporters: The smaller you are, the less access you are given; the more opinionated you are, the fewer officials are likely to speak with you. In many cases, this won't be a problem. Most bloggers aren't interested in doing what the local paper does.

But a fragmented media does give officials more power to manipulate and obfuscate, whether through policy or through practice. That's something traditional media - however cash starved - has an obligation to push back against.

Doing public business in private

Attorneys for the city of Dallas, Texas, have proposed a novel legal theory to keep public business private.

The Dallas Morning News has sued to force a former mayor to turn over emails concerning a city-backed housing project that's at the center of a federal corruption probe. The city refuses, arguing the emails are on the former mayor's private BlackBerry and therefore private information.

In other words, what defines public versus private information is not the content or purpose of the communication (i.e., discussing public business), but the status of the device used to do the communicating.

From the DMN:

The main issue in the case is whether the Public Information Act requires government agencies to release messages that deal with public matters but are made using an official's personal e-mail account or mobile device.

A lower court has ruled in the newspaper's favor twice now but the case is on appeal. If Dallas wins, I'd guess city officials will forgo their publicly financed computers and cell phones for something a little more secure.

Hell, why not hold public meetings in private living rooms?

City lawyers have thrown an added twist into the case. They argue that only the two journalists who sought the emails, not the newspaper, have standing to bring the suit under the Texas Public Information Act - nevermind that the city is spending public money to defend what it deems to be a private matter.

(via Romenesko)

Strange bedfellows

To some extent, newspaper journalism is a corporate sponsored enterprise, in that corporations buy ads that pay for newsrooms. But what if corporations got more directly into the content business? Would that supplement what's missing as newsrooms downsize?

At least one corporation has bypassed the newsroom altogether and hired its own writer to produce feature stories that highlight real people as a way to draw an audience to its products. Carpenter Co., which makes mattress and pillow stuffing, recruited former News & Observer columnist Dan Gearino to write profiles of the people of Stephenville, Texas. The stories don't mention the company or its products.

From Fast Company:

The blog is the social media component of a marketing campaign, which also piggybacks on Jewel's latest album, Lullaby. Stephenville, located about 90 miles southwest of Dallas, wasn't a random pick. Jewel lives there. ...

On the one hand, Carpenter is paying Dan to live in town and write. But it doesn't tell him what to write or not write, doesn't edit him, doesn't pay him to shill its bedding products. This isn't the same thing as the sponsored mommy blogs that have generated recent controversy because of purely positive product reviews. Dan's free to chronicle small town life as he sees fit.

This sounds like a fine idea if you want to columnize about the quirks and characters of small town America. But does Dan really get to chronicle the town "as he sees fit?" What if he comes across small town corruption? Or someone dumping toxic waste into the local swimming hole? Or higher-than-normal incidents of teen pregnancy, drug addiction or domestic abuse? What if a local councliman turns out to be a screaming racist after a few drinks? What if the local police let him drive home drunk because they're negotiating a pay raise? All of these are purely hypotheticals, of course, but would Carpenter Co. let Dan run those pieces? Of course not. Dan's work is probably culturally valuable, but corporate-sponsored journalism isn't much of a supplement for the kind of journalism we're losing.

(via Romenesko)

For sale: Texas (shipping not included)

Why secede when you can sell - and help pay down the national debt in the process)? Before Gov. Rick Perry can make do on his threat to unhitch Texas from the Union, an alert eBayer has opened a bidding war for the Lone Star State - all 268,820 square miles of it. (h/t TPM)

*Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight says Democrats should take a second look at Perry's secession idea. Among the considerations: A filibuster proof majority in the Senate.

Don't talk back

A small town in Texas thinks guns and teachers are a good mix:

HARROLD, Texas (AP) — A tiny Texas district will allow teachers and staff members to carry concealed firearms to deter and protect against school shootings when classes begin this month, provided the gun-toting employees follow certain requirements.

The small community of Harrold in north Texas is a 30-minute drive from the Wilbarger County Sheriff's Office, leaving students and teachers without protection, said David Thweatt, superintendent of the Harrold Independent School District. The lone campus of the 110-student district sits near a heavily traveled highway, which could make it a target, he argued.

"When the federal government started making schools gun-free zones, that's when all of these shootings started. Why would you put it out there that a group of people can't defend themselves? That's like saying 'sic 'em' to a dog," Thweatt said in a story published Friday on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Web site.

Texas Bible study

The Texas Board of Education voted 10-5 to allow high schools to carry an elective Bible study course. The board chose to leave it up to individual school districts to design their curriculum, giving little guidance on how to keep within academic boundaries and avoid First Amendment lawsuits:

"A school district has the right to choose their own Bible curriculum because they know their students best," said board member Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands.

Mark Chancey, professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University, has some concerns:

"The good book deserves better than it got today, and so does the state of Texas," Dr. Chancey said. "These courses can be a wonderfully enriching educational experience, but they must be taught in a way that is academically, legally and ethically appropriate. Teachers need and want resources to help them do just that.

"Instead, the board of education is sending them into a minefield without a map."

Ideally, the board would have drawn as clear a line as possible between academic study and religious indoctrination. The board's decision seems designed to blur the line, and to force anyone who wants to stand in the way to mount a legal challenge in the Texas courts.

will.i.am, where.r.you?

Hillary Clinton wins Texas (according to CNN). Barack Obama now has to hope that headline writers run out of Comeback Kid cliches sometime before the start of April.

News cycles will be cruel to Obama, who has already suffered four days of drubbing without an effective response. Spinning your delegate lead isn't all that sexy. And now he can't even fire his economic adviser without inviting more criticism.

Will Wyoming and Mississippi kill the Clinton fire?

And don't forget Clinton's Florida card. If they re-vote there and she wins, could she take the delegate lead?

Who knew democracy could be such a pain in the ass?