Houston Chronicle Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Criticism== ===Robert Jensen on the September 11 attacks=== In the weeks following the [[September 11 attacks]], the ''Houston Chronicle'' published a series of opinion articles by [[University of Texas at Austin|University of Texas]] journalism professor [[Robert W. Jensen|Robert Jensen]] that asserted the United States was "just as guilty" as the hijackers in committing acts of violence and compared that attack with the history of U.S. attacks on civilians in other countries. The opinion piece resulted in hundreds of angry letters to the editor and reportedly over 4,000 angry responses to Jensen.<ref>Jensen, Robert. "[http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/1215826 Four months later, no regrets for writing against U.S. policy]." ''Houston Chronicle''. January 20, 2002. Retrieved January 8, 2012.</ref> Among them were claims of insensitivity against the newspaper and of giving an unduly large audience to a position characterized as being extremist. University of Texas president [[Larry Faulkner]] issued a response denouncing Jensen's as "a fountain of undiluted foolishness on issues of public policy", noting "[h]e is not speaking in the University's name and may not speak in its name."<ref>[http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~ulrich/RHE306fall01/RhetAnaly/analyzethis.htm CWRL.texas.edu]</ref> ===Light rail controversy{{clarify|Either describe the document and the controversy, or delete this section.|date=November 2020}}=== The document{{which|date=February 2021}} was online for only an hour, but long enough to be viewed by some readers. Soon after, the ''Houston Review'', a conservative newspaper published by students at the [[University of Houston]], printed the memo's full text and an accompanying commentary that criticized the paper.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.houstonreview.com/1102/chroniclememo.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021204203757/http://www.houstonreview.com/1102/chroniclememo.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=December 4, 2002|title=The Houston Review|date=December 4, 2002}}</ref><ref>Connelly, Richard. "[http://www.houstonpress.com/2003-09-11/news/trainspotting/ Trainspotting]." ''[[Houston Press]]''. September 11, 2003. Retrieved October 20, 2011.</ref> Harris County District Attorney Rosenthal later dismissed the ''Chronicle''{{'}}s complaint, finding it without merit on the grounds that the statute did not apply. Rosenthal's involvement in the probe itself came under fire by the ''[[Houston Press]]'', which in editorials questioned whether Rosenthal was too close to TTM: from 2000 to 2004, Rosenthal accepted some $30,000 in donations from known TTM supporters.<ref>Ties That Bind? The D.A. shares something with those he's supposed to be probing: campaign support, Houston Press, January 15, 2004</ref> ===Sandoval family interview=== In early 2004, ''Chronicle'' reporter Lucas Wall interviewed the family of Leroy Sandoval, a Marine from Houston who was killed in Iraq. After the article appeared, Sandoval's stepfather and sister called into Houston talk radio station [[KSEV]] and said that a sentence alleging "President Bush's failure to find weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq misrepresented their views on the war and President [[George W. Bush]], that Wall had pressured them for a quotation that criticized Bush, and that the line alleging Bush's "failure" was included against the wishes of the family.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.publiustx.net/|title=PubliusTX.net|website=www.publiustx.net}}</ref> A dispute ensued between KSEV radio show host/owner [[Dan Patrick (Texas politician)|Dan Patrick]] and an assistant managing editor at the ''Chronicle''. The incident prompted Patrick to join the call for a boycott of the paper.<ref name="Abclocal.go.com">Abrahams, Tom. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20050313080722/http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/040904_local_boycott.html Radio talk show host launches boycott against local newspaper]." ''[[KTRK-TV]]''. April 4, 2004. Retrieved October 20, 2011.</ref> The story was also picked up by the local Houston television stations and, a week later, the [[O'Reilly Factor]]. Eventually, ''Chronicle'' publisher Jack Sweeney contacted the Sandoval family to apologize.<ref name="Abclocal.go.com"/> ===Purchase of ''Houston Post'' assets=== Internal memos obtained via FOIA from the [[United States Department of Justice|Justice Department]] [[antitrust]] attorneys who investigated the closing of the ''Houston Post'' said the ''Chronicle's'' parent organization struck a deal to buy the ''Post'' six months before it closed. The memos, first obtained by the alternative paper the ''Houston Press'', say the ''Chronicle's'' conglomerate and the ''Post'' "reached an agreement in October, 1994, for the sale of Houston Post Co.'s assets for approximately $120 million."<ref>[http://www.reclaimthemedia.org/print.php?story=04/05/31/6064236 Reclaimthemedia.org]</ref> ===Tom DeLay poll=== In January 2006 the ''Chronicle'' hired Richard Murray of the [[University of Houston]] to conduct an election survey in the district of U.S. Rep. [[Tom DeLay]], in light of his 2005 indictment by District Attorney [[Ronnie Earle]] for alleged campaign money violations. The ''Chronicle'' said that its poll showed "severely eroded support for U.S. Rep Tom DeLay in his district, most notably among Republicans who have voted for him before."<ref>Mack, Kristen. "[http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3587652.html Troubles erode support for DeLay in 22nd District]." ''Houston Chronicle''. January 14, 2006. Retrieved October 20, 2011.</ref> Former Texas Secretary of State [[Jack Rains]] contacted the ''Chronicle's'' James Howard Gibbons, alleging that the poll appeared to incorrectly count non-Republican Primary voters in its sample. Rains also asserted that Murray had a conflict of interest in the poll, as Murray's son Keir was a political consultant working for [[Nick Lampson]], DeLay's Democratic challenger in 2006.<ref>[http://lonestartimes.com/2006/01/19/hendee-emails-murray-re-chron-delay-poll/ Lonestartimes.com]</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page