The Texas Tribune is becoming more transparent, even though they have long insisted they were already completely transparent. Keep those two opposing notions in your head and consider this quote from a piece last Friday by the Trib’s Emily Ramshaw, “When you’re asking for peoples’ trust, being as transparent as Read more…
The first time I rolled into Eagle Pass, a little town down on the Rio Grande, I wondered if I were still in America. Below the street and on the riverbank there were a few hundred people living in shacks fashioned of cardboard and sticks. These were impoverished Kickapoo Indians Read more…
The following is the first of many guests posts we hope to publish, which will bring additional expertise and insight to the Don’t Grow Texas community. R.G. Ratcliffe is a senior political writer and analyst with decades of experience in newspaper journalism. When I was a child in Dallas, I Read more…
I’ve got this thing about hypocrites and opportunists: I cannot stand them or their unrestrained inclinations. Arizona’s latest self-disembowelment over gay people, and the chorus of voices that urged the state to come to its senses, reminded me of four people who used sexual politics to succeed professionally before they Read more…
If you are close to becoming a naturalized Texan, (not sure such an entity is culturally recognized) or you were born over the sacred soil, you have the innate sense that tells you about the approach of the historic Battle of the Alamo anniversary. In fact, yesterday marked the 178th Read more…
As a precinct captain among the “self-appointed integrity cops,” I take great pleasure in noting that the Texas Tribune still says it’s doing everything it needs to do for transparency, but they are still going to make some changes. Never mind that no one can process that contradiction; give the Read more…
“He’s a walkin’ contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction, takin’ every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.” – Kristofferson I think I need to add a new category to this site. It will be called, “Fun with Evan.” We’ll have weekly updates on his disingenuousness and hypocrisy as Read more…
Friday Brain Fire will offer insights into the media, how it works, and how it can be worked. There will, of course, be politics, and other topics that simply do not get addressed by journalism or government. Nothing will be out of bounds. And if you read this and Read more…
I know I said I wasn’t going to write about the Texas Tribune again but like my ma said, “There’s a lot of things I don’t wanna do in life, son, but I have to do them.” The numbers in this piece cried out for exclamation points. I tried to Read more…
There was this guy. He used to race bikes. Everybody claimed he was a freak and faster than anyone else in history. He worked harder and had better genetics. And then everyone found out about the drugs that charged his cardiovascular engine. There was this news publishing company. They used Read more…
The reaction to the Texas Tribune piece has been mostly condescension from Trib reporters. None of them addressed me directly in their tweets but one of their digirati tweeted a “counter-counter” response, “No country for old men.” I’m sure that is patently true. Best I can tell the only people Read more…
Taxation, Texas There are other inequities related to the Trib that have never even been mentioned by the legislative and political community. While CEO Smith and his staff of about 30 journalists and an army of interns are scouring the capitol for all the news that doesn’t offend, they Read more…
The Deadly Cure The Texas Tribune launched in 2009 and was immediately hailed as the future of non-profit journalism. Supporters of the project failed to note that non-profits such as Consumer Reports and the Center for Investigative Journalism had been delivering great reporting for years, and ProPublica had established itself Read more…
Sins of Omission and Commission During the glory days of journalism at the Texas capitol in Austin, newspapers with large bureau staffs covered hearings and debates on legislation, almost every statewide campaign for office, and also held the governor and lawmakers accountable on a daily basis. TV stations from the Read more…
The Texas Tribune was supposed to be the best new idea to save journalism. Instead, it is destroying it. What believers hoped was going to be a watchdog has turned into a lapdog by taking big dollars from lobbyists and corporations. Appearances are Destiny The complications were easily avoided. Instead, Read more…