Posted on 08/21/2007 12:38:06 PM PDT by RatherBiased.com
For a long time, the San Antonio Express News was unique, not in its predictably liberal editorial page or in its port-skewing news coverage. No, instead, it was one of the few American newspapers to have two editorial cartoonists, one liberal and one conservative.
That is no longer the case. Under pressure to cut jobs and staff in the midst of the overall decline of print media, Express-News editorial page editor Bruce Davidson decided that the paper should drop conservative cartoonist Leo Garza, a fixture at the paper for over 20 years. Liberal cartoonist John Branch will remain on the staff.
You'd think that given the Express-News's posture of demanding accountability from government and (other) businesses, that it would be consistent and respect the "public's right to know" what prompted this politically charged decision. Alas, no such explanation seems in the offing for us plebs.
Looking for such an explanation, I spotted a column from Davidson announcing Garza's termination which gave no explanation whatsoever. Similarly, EN "public editor" Bob Richter did little to explain this decision to the public, stating that Garza was "simply a victim of the numbers" without any explanation for why Branch wasn't terminated as well. After all, wouldn't the Express-News save more by firing all its cartoonists like the Los Angeles Times has?
Hoping to find some sort of explanation, I emailed Davidson thinking that maybe he just had not been asked why the political disparity. His email was similarly useless:
Keeping Branch instead of Leo was judgment call we had to make. I'll refrain from a line-by-line comparison. But I will tell you it was not easy, but it was about the numbers. It was not about Leo's politics. You, of course, will be skeptical. I understand that, but I'm telling you the unfortunate truth.
I emailed back the following and have yet to receive a response. I'm not exactly holding my breath for one:
A "judgment call?" "About the numbers?" What does that mean? You provide no specifics which gives you no credibility.
Don't you find it the least bit hypocritical that you are refusing to disclose your decision-making process when you routinely publish editorials demanding that government and other businesses do just that? How are you doing anything but using the "unfettered power" (your phrase for the Bush White House) you have over your editorial page without having the respect for the public opinion to explain yourself?
You owe it to the public to explain your actions with more than peremptory phrases and dismissive language, especially as a member of our self-appointed "fourth estate."
Sad, but can anyone truly say they’re surprised?
I’m not but was wondering if any of the local San Antonio FReepers could report on how the Express-News’s opinion columns are in terms of left-right so I can put that in the article.
Some recent ones:
The Kansas City (Red) Star has taken to dumping a free paper on my driveway every Saturday, possibly to get me to subscribe, I don’t know.
I’m thinking of reporting them for littering.
A great cartoon. I read the Express News every day and I will miss it.
Nacho was a rare bird. He was a conservative Hispanic fellow dealing with liberal Hispanics in day to day situations.
Would be interesting to see what that Liberal cartoonist draws in comparison ....and also, how long he was at the paper ... here in Seattle we unfortunately have two liberal papers and no Conservative one .....but then, are there any????
Both have been at the paper for over 20 years.
They want to go out of business, that was the criteria.
Naturally, the Express-News is taking heat for this stupidity....
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/letters/stories/MYSA082107.01O.nachofocus.22e8aa6.html
the l.a. times dumped ramirez
for the same reason.
That’s some really good stuff.
Houston Chronicle did the same thing with Mallard Filmore (sp?), a conservative cartoon. It was the only one I would read if ever I came across the Chron rag. Won’t buy it anymore for YEARS.
They’ve got Pastor John Hagee down there in San Antonio, and he sure never minces words when it comes to the libs! I wonder what he’ll have to say about this.
Regrettably, very few. The Washington Times and the New York Post are two exceptions that leap to mind. But it is the Post in Washington and the Times in New York that dominate their respective markets--not the other way around.
Come to think of it, the Big Apple's latest entrant, the New York Sun, is pretty conservative too. And Chicago's Sun-Times is certainly a bit to the right of its rival, the Tribune.
But it still is nothing more than a small minority of the nation's newspapers.
Mallard Fillmore is still in the Houston Chronicle.
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