Bloggers that examine Houston Chronicle suggests that all is not well

As I don't read the Houston daily newspaper all that much any more, I don't blog about it much either, though there are exceptions, none of which can really be related to the big picture.

But I've just realized that that there's some serious journalism critiques emanating from Houston-based bloggers. If you're a serious-minded sort who cares about local government, issues and elections, perhaps you should pay attention? So here's a brief -- and by no means comprehensive -- overview of who's doing the overviewing, so to speak ....

** Cory Crow -- On this guy's blog he asserts The Houston Chronicle has fallen into a deep sleep.

Unfortunately, the list of key issues that the newspaper has missed, due to either lack of interest or lack of staff, is growing longer by the day. KHOU broke the crime lab story, the under reported crime story and a host of others. KTRK was responsible for breaking the story about Harris County Commissioner Jerry Eversole, scandals that could land the Commissioner in court. Then there's BARC, the reporting of which has been owned by Craig Malisow of The Houston Press and local blogger Kelly Cripe. All of these stories broken by organizations with much less funding and resources than ChronBlog.

** Slampo -- This chap, one of our favorite bloggers, lately has been doing some serious political writing on the Houston Mayor's race, and his latest offering adds further credence to the notion The Houston Chronicle hasn't been asking the right questions.

** Murray Newman -- He's a lawyer who recently left the Harris County DA's Office. In this post, he takes apart, brick by brick, a story in the Chronicle about why the jail is so crowded. Read the comments. You'll probably learn something you didn't know about how the court system works.

****************************

I have no idea if management at The Chronicle reads these blogs, much less discusses any of the issues that are raised in them.

The newspaper's "reader representative" is for all practical purposes incommunicado when it comes to dealing with bloggers who have a beef, based on what I've read in blogHouston.

Yo, I realize the Chronicle, like all the other big papers in the USA, are suffering tough economic times and have reduced staff, but you can't take your eye off the ball.

That's all I got.