Earlier, KHOU-11 ran a hit piece by Doug Miller on Councilmember Michael Berry, who began hosting a talk show on KPRC-950 this week.
The hit piece is entitled, “City councilman’s radio gig raises questions.”
Well good. Presumably, programming guru Ken Charles likes his talk show hosts to raise good questions for the audience.
But perhaps that’s not what Miller meant. The headline more likely implied, “around the table of us important journalists.”
And Bob Stein. We can’t leave him out! Yes, Houston’s most happening political scientist, bicyclist, and spouse to mayoral aide Marty Stein has to add his two cents for Miller:
“Actually, it raises an ethical question about whether elected officials should be in positions where they have unlimited air time,” said Bob Stein, KHOU Political Analyst.
Well, it’s sort of a moot question, since Berry doesn’t have “unlimited air time.” His show is on four days a week, for a total of eight hours.
Funny, but Bicyclist Stein never seems to lapse into haughty lectures on politics and media ethics when local journalists report his commentary on city politics but sometimes fail to note that his wife actually is a shaper of city politics as a mayoral aide.
I listened to Councilmember Berry’s show this morning, and thought it was pretty good. He talks knowledgeably about local issues, and he’s good with callers. That’s my kind of talk radio. I wish more elected officials were willing to engage the electorate that way. Earlier, Chris Tritico was ridiculing the Controller’s Office because Annise Parker was in a meeting and apparently “nobody else in the entire office can speak.” That’s unfortunate.
It must have been a slow news day at City Hall if that’s the best Miller could do.
(Old) Forum Comments (15)
