Hi all.
I heard through the grapevine about a voter registration incident that occurred with a reporter, and told reprehensor about it. We discuss everything about what's going on now.
He said I needed to send it to Texas Media Watch, and that sounded like a good idea to me. I'd heard about the site, and it sounded like something doing good work here in Texas, like FAIR or Media Matters.
When I began to check over old versions of the newsletter on the site, I didn't like what I began seeing. A clear pattern emerged of BIAS within the non-bias. Not much anger and vitriol about the Swift Boat Vets, but some seriously damning words for Dan Rather and CBS.
At first I thought, "Well, she's trying to be COMPLETELY without bias." At the story about our textbook change meetings, warning bells really began to go off.
In a September 9 news report on the State Board of Education hearings on how sex education should be presented in Texas schools, Houston Chronicle reporters Janet Elliott and Jo Ann Zuniga take sides in this opening paragraph:
AUSTIN - High school students in Houston and elsewhere may not learn about preventing pregnancy and disease in proposed new textbooks that teach abstinence exclusively.
Readers interested in learning the other side of the argument had to read to the bottom of the story. The last paragraph reads:
“Years of comprehensive sex education have failed. A double message blurs the direct abstinence approach," said Anne Newman, director of policy for The Justice Foundation, a San Antonio-based group that supports limited government and parental rights.I thought, "huh?" A media watchdog is annoyed that a story about getting our kids TRUE information about contraception and STCs mentions very little about fundie thought processes?
So I did a little searching online for Sherry Sylvester, the Texas Media Watch guru, and here's what I found.
First, she had her own Website up until 1999 or so. New Jersey politics mostly. Complimentary on many Republicans, not so much on Dems. More warning bells.
Then, surprise! Here's the real gem:
(one person's photo was removed)
Now compare this with the front page of Texas Media Watch Website. In case you missed it, I've marked it with an arrow. See a little Fox copycat at work?
Apologies if you guys were already hip to this, but I'm sitting here fuming. If we haven't spread the news already, this needs to be out there. Texas Media Watch- more shilling.
FSC