Accidental Houston Chronicle memo admits to tainting the news with political agenda

recieved in an email from a copy of the Chronicle website last Thursday ^ | houston chronicle memo

[weegee]

We need to make the Comical answer to this. Force them to acknowledge it and discuss it openly. Make them show their hand; who is driving the issue of rail in town?

Start a billboard campaign to tell Houstonians that the Chronicle does not shoot straight on the issues. If not billboards, bumper stickers with a link to a website with the text of the memo.

[GOPcapitalist]

I want to know who wrote the memo!

Exactly. It was obviously sent to the editorial and political writers as its target but the author is a mystery. My guess is an editor of some sort, probably one on the editorial board.

[Republic]

Don't miss this gem. Too funny (and sad at the same time!)

[Humidston]

No way, Jose! Ain't payin' fer nothing in Houston no mo!

Used to live in FM 1960 area, Harris Co. But moved well out of the county now. Up in the woods, where the air is clear, the citizens are conservative, crime is low and the kids behave themselves (for the most part ;-)!

I'll let the ghetto blasters turn the city into a dump and I'll continue to urge all conservatives to join me!

[MAWG]

I'm thinking it was someone on the editorial board as well. I think it was Frank " Pancho " Michel.

[quebecois]

The mainsream media's overt leftist bias is almost too blatant for anyone to question. I'm sure that this kind of "political strategy planning" occurs in almost all of the newsrooms all across the liberal media. This one just happened to get leaked to the unwashed masses.

I'm reminded of a quote I heard years ago: "Conservatives go to bed at night fearing that the people won't understand them. Liberals go to bed at night fearing that the people will understand them."

The Chronicle let its mask slip.

[weegee]

We all pay into the federal pool (even those who aren't in Texas) which they want added to this boondoggle.

[Willie Green]

Knee-jerk reactionaries will go along with the absurd assumption that
a city may only have one or the other, light-rail or highways.
Houston is a major metropolitan area.
It needs a variety of transportation modes
available for the traveling public to select from.
Light-rail should be a part of that mix.

[hobson]

Maybe we could take out a full page ad in the Comical that discloses their memo!

[NovemberCharlie]

Light-rail should be a part of that mix.

Indeed it should, but I have yet to hear what a rail line connecting three destinations (Downtown, the Medical Center, and the Astrodomain) will do to reduce traffic, since it is unlikely anyone would want to go from one such area to the other. They say they intend it to be a "starter set" from which they will build a truly comprehensive rail system.

Because Houston is so decentralized, "truly comprehensive" in my mind would have to be as dense as the Paris Metro -and all of Paris could fit comfortably insde Loop 610.

[weegee]

Good idea. Someone should tape the proposal phone call when talking with the advertising department just for laughs.

[weegee]

The center of Houston's population is West Houston (I-10 and Beltway 8). None of the rail lines deal with these areas.

Not all office are (or should be) downtown.

[Willie Green]

Gotta start somewhere.
I'm not familiar with Houston and am unable to comment on specific routes.

[Samwise]

In my Journalism 101 class, the instructor gave us the lecture about the neutrality of journalism and keeping your opinion out of the news, yada, yada, yada. Without skipping a beat, he said, "Now, here's how you get around that...."
I didn't take Journalism 102.

[Ditter]

I remember reading an article in the Comical a few years ago where they said the rail line from the hospitals to the ball park (downtown) was a good thing because developers could build highrise apt buildings along the route & then Houston would be just like New York. I always felt like that was something that slipped out by mistake.

[anymouse]

Interesting how the Comical is turning on their buddy former Mayor Bob Lanier. Apparently Lanier plays both sides of the street against each other.

What this does do is document Lanier's corruption in Houston development and construction projects.

Other than point out that Rep. Delay get's constuction industry contributions (not a huge surprise nor an indictment of corruption), the Comical doesn't reveal any significant dirt on Delay, as you might expect them to gloat about in such an internal memo.

Frankly this memo makes the Comical look petty and politically motivated and tips their hand big time.

Rep. Delay should put out a press release thanking the Comical for their rare honesty and candor in admiting their bias in the rail debate. :)

[GOPcapitalist]

Maybe we could take out a full page ad in the Comical that discloses their memo!

ROTFLOL! Maybe make it one of those freeper ads with cool graphics in the background surrounding a suspicious piece of paper that is stamped "top secret" etc and has the text of the memo. Anybody good at graphic design?

[GOPcapitalist]

Houston is a major metropolitan area. It needs a variety of transportation modes available for the traveling public to select from. Light-rail should be a part of that mix.

No. It shouldn't and I'll tell you exactly why. Light rail in Houston is simply not economical or viable to any significant degree due to geography and population patterns. Beyond an expensive elevated line, it cannot be implemented here without causing greater harm to traffic flow on the streets than is gained from it.

All the stats of practically every transportation study done in Houston show this to be the case with rail. It's also been tried here before and was a miserable failure. They tore up the last light rail line system, which ironically covered almost the exact same corridors the new one proposes, back in the 1940's because it was causing more problems than it was worth.

[KSCITYBOY]

So much for reporting the news - Hell they want to make the news - They should be run out of business. This is bullshit.

[GOPcapitalist]

Michel's one of my main suspects as well. Email him and ask if he wrote it.