Moving the Problem Up the Food Chain

Counter to Marc Campos' take, I'll note that Kristen Mack's move up to the bigger Hearst Paper is only good for the following reason: it means Houston readers won't have to suffer from having to read her in the local paper. Obviously, I've not been a fan of Mack's time at the Chron - her writing is awful, her fact-checking atrocious, and her journalistic ethics ... questionable. She wrote with bias, she proved to be too easily cowed by Republican critics and too quick to demonstrate herself non-biased by being far harsher on Dems than she ever was on Republicans in her writing. I can tolerate a principled writer of any particular stripe. But Kristen Mack is not in that league. I'd not be true to myself if I offered anything less than a "good riddance."

Unfortunately, it's a bad move for the Washington Post - a paper I generally enjoy reading. Not just because they'll need to boost the editing staff for her writing, either. With a little luck, perhaps she won't darken the political beat there too soon. Based on her Houston experience, she wasn't cut out for it.

As for the local rag, it'll be curious to see what becomes of the spot. Personally, I'm not sure it needs to be filled with Casey back, but Casey's beat has always ventured beyond the local political scene and his own writing is sometimes stellar, but sometimes not. Still, compared to Mack, "hit or miss" is a vast improvement. I'd much rather see some increased political reporting and less editorializing.

There have been rumors of hiring a local "conservative" columnist. Which would be amazing since it's not clear from the Chronicle who the counterweight liberal or progressive columnist is supposed to be. Unfortunately, it would be reminiscent of the Hearst trend to hire a Republican voice to appease the unjustified complaints that the media is biased against them. Guess we'll wait and see if that trend extends to Houston. If it does, I'll put good money on the fact that it does nothing to satisfy the Republican gripes about said bias, which would therefore make the potential addition of questionable value.