The latest piece from Chronicle metro/state columnist Rick Casey contains this stellar bit of work:
Unfortunately, I was unable to reach Jefferson on Tuesday, partly because by the time Keel and Ellis told at length their very divergent stories, the Supreme Court switchboard was closed.
So I don’t know whether Jefferson, who presides over a corps of state appeals and district judges who haven’t seen a pay raise in six years, threatened anyone.
Casey doesn’t know, but why not print it anyway?
Just in case.
It’s sloppy journalism for Rick Casey to call a state office after hours to try and get a quote from the person he’s preparing to write about, find that nobody answers, and then print that he was “unable to reach” the person he was trying to call (or worse, that the person didn’t return his calls, which he’s also done before). It’s not like he’s a news columnist about to be scooped; he’s an opinion columnist, and nobody else in town was going to beat him to this sort of story (replete with a cheap slam on Harris County DA and Chron “bad guy” Chuck Rosenthal). Furthermore, his column runs three times per week. Had he really wanted to do a decent column and get a response before smearing a man with innuendo, he could have done so.
Since it’s not the first time Casey has played the “unable to get a quote” card without consequence (even taking another journalist’s words without proper attribution took place once without consequence!), one can only presume that Casey either has no editorial supervision or that his noxious approach to journalism is exactly what Jeff Cohen wants. In either case, it really detracts from a metro/state section that has some good reporters, and seems to be improving little by little.
There’s additional stellar reporting:
A friend who is the top assistant prosecutor to a district attorney was grumbling on the phone because he can’t get a raise for the simple reason that his boss believes she should make more than he does.
His boss, like Keel a conservative Republican, could be heard in the background saying, “Keel? That sorry son of a (bleep) is a (bleep bleep)!”
Gossip, innuendo, and unsourced allegations are the standards set by the featured metro/state columnist of the Chronicle these days?
Every person of integrity who works at the newspaper ought to be embarrassed by it. I’ll be embarrassed for some of them, since the practice is apparently endorsed by the Big Bosses at the Chronicle (and I do sympathize with the need to pay the car note and such).
