I’m pretty much beyond writing about the bias against conservatives/Republicans in the Houston Chronicle and the media in general but this one does stand out. Let’s see Dan Patrick’s response to the latest hit job by the Houston Chronicle:
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick: Statement on Houston Chronicle Retraction
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s property tax bill inaccurately depictedAUSTIN – Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made this statement today:
“On Friday the Houston Chronicle pulled down a February 8 news story that falsely reported that I had somehow received an unfair break on my local property taxes. The news report wasn’t true and I am thankful to the publisher of the Chronicle for finally retracting the story and posting a correction saying it was ‘inaccurate’.
“In fact, the story should never have been published. My team had told the reporter weeks before the story was published that he had his facts wrong — even on such basic points as how long I had owned my house. Once my office raised questions, a simple call to the Montgomery County Tax Assessor Collector’s Office would have quickly provided the facts, but the reporter never made that call. Instead, he ignored the facts that were provided to him and held onto the story. We have since learned that he has been working on the piece for several months. It is clearly not coincidental that it was published the same week the Senate Property Tax Committee held hearings on Senate Bill 2 — the property tax reform bill.
“It is obvious the reporter was trying to damage my effort to pass property tax reform this legislative session. His plan failed. We are moving forward to pass Senate Bill 2, which will limit property tax growth for homeowners and businesses.”
To read the retraction click the following link: https://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Lt-Gov-Dan-Patrick-s-property-tax-bill-13620372.php
That the Houston Chronicle is an organ for the Texas Democratic Party and for the progressive liberal agenda is beyond dispute. Which is why I cancelled my short lived subscription.
Beyond that truth, check out their “apology”. Dan might well be willing to call it an apology but it isn’t. It’s more of an “oh well, whatever” statement. And no, they didn’t retract the false story, they simply added a disclaimer of sorts that what they were saying isn’t true. Seriously. Check it out. That’s behind the paywall but if you want to read it, set up a browser that deletes your cookies. Or read Kuffner, he’ll probably quote the thing in whole.
The problem with the biased Texas political media is that they are all infected. Don’t believe me? Check out this “apology” from Bud Kennedy of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram:
I wrote a column here last week based on that wrong info. So I was wrong, too. Like the Chronicle, we have removed that column from our website.
This is awful. I apologize to Dan, and to you.
Agree or disagree with Patrick, he is one of the Texas elected officials working hardest to rein in county, city and school taxes.
It sounds as if a bunch of folks in Houston and Montgomery County made a series of mistakes, and that unfairly made him look bad.
Bud, the reason that it “looked bad” was because YOU WANTED IT TO BE TRUE! Otherwise, you would have contacted him BEFORE you wrote your hit piece. Oh, and the Chron didn’t remove their “article”. Don’t forget that.
Folks, the Texas political media in general is deceiving you. Don’t buy their shtick. Find as many alternative sources as can you.
If you really want to follow the Texas political media (and I warn you, it isn’t pretty) Eliza Vielma has created a very helpful Twitter list of Texas Capital “reporters”. Click here to view it.
Anybody else remember when the Comical was the conservative afternoon paper that countered Lynn Ashby’s liberal morning Post? I enjoyed both papers every day. Then the Chron went all Hearsty, scooped up the Post and jumped so far left it became unreadable.
I grew up next to Jack Loftis and mowed his lawn as a kid. Much later I got the opportunity to visit with him over dinner a few times as he was married to a mutual friend. He was as sharp as a tack right up to his passing. He lamented the state of journalism and content of his old paper. He said there was obviously little to no proofreading now. During his time as editor just about all lead stories in every section was meticulously proofread by every other associate editor. He said now they just go online, snag a bunch of related stock photos, write a paragraph that usually ends in a question and directs you to captionless pictures.
There is no real news to be concerned with coming from that rag. Houston, like every other large city in America desperately needs a real source of news.
Nice to see you’ve appeared to let your animosity to Patrick subside too.
The Chronicle is a worthless leftwing rag, written by a bunch of talentless hacks. It’s useful for lining the bottom of birdcages and wrapping fish guts to throw out. Expecting actual reporting or even-handed treatment is futile.
I don’t know what the author’s definition of “retract” is, but the original article is no longer accessible on the Chron website. Although a headline and link come up in a seach on their site, clicking only brings up the apology issued on Feb. 15th — which also states “The two newspapers have removed the Feb. 8 article from their websites. The Chronicle and the Express-News regret the errors.”
I just clicked on the link I provided above and the article is still available. Comes right up. Give it a try. My definition of retract is that it is taken down and is no longer available to read.