http://www.poynter.org | 3/10/10
"While news consumers certainly need watchdogs," Schaffer said at USC, "they also need guide dogs as well. While they certainly need news, sometimes all they need is good information. And while they want conversation and participation, they also appreciate a level of connection that demonstrates an attachment and some caring about their community -- not detached, clinical observations. They want to know about issues, choices and possible solutions. And they'd also like to know where people agree and not just where they are shouting in disagreement."
I rarely agree completely with Schaffer, and I'll stick by the value of professional journalists to take on the toughest and most complicated stories, most of them beyond the capacity of well-motivated volunteers. What Shaffer likes to call "Big J" projects, like last year's Pulitzer Prize-winning exposes of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick or unsafe construction site practices in Las Vegas, to me represent a valuable tough-love connection to community.
But her line of thought suggests a potentially complementary relationship between the traditional professional news organizations and the new ecosystem of community-motivated and staffed start-ups. (Let's stipulate that the well-funded likes of ProPublica and Texas Tribune or the Albritton Communications local news site in Washington, D.C., already occupy a middle ground).
I sense a number of papers -- The Boston Globe most explicitly -- evolving to an editorial policy of trying to make nearly all their print content and much of the online report consist of stories the news organization can do uniquely well. That approach retains public service and commercial value for those who still read the paper and its Web site, while ceding some of the small-grain, highly localized content to the blossoming alternative system.
http://www.dailytexanonline.com | 3/10/10
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Bill White criticized Gov. Rick Perry’s across-the-board budget cuts, but on Tuesday morning at a breakfast hosted by online news organization The Texas Tribune, he said he couldn’t guarantee that he would not raise taxes to compensate for budget shortfalls.
Evan Smith, editor-in-chief and CEO of the Tribune, led the discussion by asking White, who took the Democratic nomination by 76 percent on March 2, questions about his record as Houston mayor and where he stands on various issues, including the looming $11 billion sales-tax revenue shortfall.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-03-01-texas-primaries_N.htm | 3/2/10
Perry, who is vying for his second re-election, has portrayed Hutchison as a Washington insider, gaining a double-digit lead over her in polls, says Ross Ramsey, managing editor of The Texas Tribune, a non-profit political website.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/28/AR2010022803206.html | 3/1/10
Of course, Perry has made a cottage industry of outperforming the low expectations his rivals have for him. Once considered in jeopardy against Hutchison, he has dominated the primary with surprising ease by touting the state's still-strong economy and the continued sense of optimism that Texans hold about the state. (A recent poll sponsored by the Texas Tribune showed that 43 percent of Texans think the state is on the right track while 37 percent believe it is on the wrong track; in the same poll, 31 percent said the country is on the right track and 56 percent said it is on the wrong one.)
http://statesman.com | 2/22/10
An article Monday by the Texas Tribune, a news Web site, said the state health department sent 800 anonymous samples to the military to help create a national mitochondrial DNA database. The samples were sent in 2003 and 2007, according to the department's Web site.
http://www.star-telegram.com/ | 2/22/10
But nearly two-thirds of the voters -- 58 percent -- chose "don't know" in the Feb. 1-7 survey by the Texas Tribune and University of Texas at Austin, showing that the race doesn't appear to be registering with voters, even with the approach of the March 2 primary.
http://www.dailykos.com | 2/19/10
Nearly a third of Texans believe humans and dinosaurs roamed the earth at the same time, and more than half disagree with the theory that humans developed from earlier species of animals, according to the University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
And is anyone surprised to know that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe this crap? Extra fun fact: supporters of Kay Bailey Hutchison are even more likely to believe this crap.
Here are some other fun "facts" they believe:
38 percent agreed with the statement "God created human beings pretty much in their present form about 10,000 years ago."
22 percent said life has existed in its present form since the beginning of time
51 percent disagreed with the statement, "human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals."
only 41 percent know that humans did not live at the same time as the dinosaurs
Maybe instead of rewriting textbooks to teach kids that Newt Gingrich was the most important man ever, Texas should focus on teaching kids that, as Lewis Black said, "The Flintstones" is not a documentary.
http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/21405 | 2/15/10
Rumors of Starr’s move to Baylor were reported first on the Texas Tribune blog Sunday. KWTX-TV and the Waco Tribune-Herald followed later with sources saying the appointment was certain.
A statement posted on Baylor’s website said the school’s board of regents approved Starr’s selection on Friday.
http://www.examiner.com/x-35323-Abilene-StayatHome-Moms-Examiner%7Ey2010m2d10-Vaccine-controversy-escalates-in-Texas-again | 2/10/10
New developments in the autism-vaccination controversy have brought the vaccination debate to the forefront again.
According to the Texas Tribune, just last week a British medical journal that printed the first study linking vaccinations to autism retracted the article and renounced its conclusions.
The physician, Andrew Wakefield, who led the study, is now facing possible sanctions from medical licensing authorities, depending on the outcome of a hearing by the Britain General Medical Council. They will determine whether or not the information he presented in his report is equal to serious professional misconduct, and if it is, what type of sanction they should impose, if any.
Wakefield actually oversees a treatment facility for children dealing with autism and related conditions, called Thoughtful House, in Austin.
http://kut.org/items/show/19778 | 2/10/10
Former Texas congressman Charlie Wilson has died. He was 76.
Wilson represented the 2nd district in East Texas for more than two decades. He served in the Texas House and Senate for 12 years before that.
KUT’s Emily Donahue spoke with Evan Smith, CEO and Editor-in-Chief of “The Texas Tribune” about Wilson the man, and the politician.
A heads up here: Some of the conversation you’re about to hear is as colorful as Wilson himself, and may offend some listeners.