Chronicle politics columnist Kristen Mack reports today on the companies vying for the city’s red-light-camera contract, and the city-hall ties of some of their lobbyists.
The column concludes with a proper identification of Rice University political science professor Bob Stein:
“It’s going to be ugly. There’s a lot of money involved,” said Rice University political scientist Bob Stein, whose wife works as the mayor’s agenda director.
“The mayor will be watching carefully to ensure that the contracts are handled properly and that there are no shenanigans.”
On that bolded part — how does Professor Stein, sometime advisor to Mayor White himself, know? Is it because he’s an omniscient objective political analyst, or because of his personal ties to the White Administration?
There’s no way for readers to know, which is why it is important for journalists to note his association with the White Administration in their reporting. Otherwise, readers simply think he’s an outsider doing objective political analysis, which is misleading.
