The Texas Tribune – A Good Idea Gone Bad

The idea was to establish a down-the-line, journalistic on-line newspaper that would

Articles from the Texas Tribune (Photo by Lynn Woolley for WBDaily)

cover the State of Texas and be accessible to everyone.  There’s no question it’s a good idea.

With printed newspapers facing the difficulties of a digital society, it was a matter of time before someone found a way to make a major paper work via the internet. 

The problem with the Texas Tribune is not a lack of resources, research, or even journalists.  They dig deep and they break stories that are well-written.

The problem with the Tribune is the slant of the paper.

It’s consistently written with the language of the Left – terms like “gender affirming care” and it consistently takes a far-left point-of-view.

Perhaps it needs an opinion page – clearly labeled, and diverse!

A service of the Texas Public Policy Foundation at Texas Policy.com

An op-ed page would be a major improvement, so that the entire output of the paper isn’t opinion, as it often seems to be. 

Here’s a couple of examples:

On July 21, 2023, the Tribune carried a piece with this headline:

For Black Aggies, questions over professor’s botched hiring persist after president’s departure.

The basic story spears to be that a professor was hired away from the University of Texas at Austin to rekindle Texas A&M’s Journalism Department.

But the professor, Kathleen McElroy, seemed to be focused on “diversifying newsrooms.”  That was her background and her basic skill.

Aggie alumni and donors, who often brag about how conservative A&M is, were, in my option, miffed at the hire.  She ended up not going to A&M, and repercussions went all the way to the office of University President M. Katherine Banks – who resigned.  And there were other repercussions.

The Tribune ran several stories.  This one focused on “Black Aggies,” one of which was quoted as saying: 

“Now Black students are left without representation of someone who has the experience of a faculty member that cares about what she does and who genuinely loves her field.”

Not that the quote makes any kind of real sense, but it certainly let the reader know that Black-with-a-capital-B-students at A&M (or at least this one) were unhappy.

The article goes on to say that students have “concerns” over a new state law curbing such diversity hires.  We also learn that conservative Texas A&M has an “A&M Black Former Students Network.”  Who knew?

And who knew that every single black Aggie is consumed with the need for diversity, equity, and inclusion?  Some of them might actually believe that race (an immutable characteristic) should not matter.  The Tribune writers likely never considered such a thing.

The Tribune goes on to tell us:

McElroy’s failed hiring also raise concerns about a potential connection with Republicans’ recent attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.   

That was not quoting someone; that was a statement written by the article’s authors, who also appear to be miffed by Republicans.

And it goes on, reading like a hit piece against conservatives who view DEI as the new Marxism.

On July 24, the Tribune published another gem with this headline:

Ken Paxton’s far-right billionaire backers are fighting hard to save him.

The article, 11 pages long, goes on to slam a right-wing PAC called “Defend Texas Liberty,” which likes Paxton because he fought the left-wing insanity of the Biden Administration.

The Trib stated as a fact in a supposed down-the line newspaper that this PAC has been pushing Texas to “the extreme right,” and that it supports Paxton who “used his office to push ultraconservative priorities…”

Wow!  That’s a lot of left-wing trash talk for a down-the-line newspaper.  But it goes on attacking Republicans:

The Paxton drama comes at a crucial time for the state’s ultraconservative wing, which has been increasingly criticized by moderate Republicans who have grown weary of their purity tests and attacks even as the state drifts further to the right.

That’s not quoting someone; that’s the text of the article itself.

And this is typical of the Texas Tribune.  Republicans are “ultraconservative,” but left-wing nutcases like Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke are never ultraliberal.  In fact, the Tribune has often covered O’Rourke in glowing terms, with one of the newspaper’s founders even going on the road with him for a series of friendly interviews.

And so it goes with the Texas Tribune.  

Virtually every political story they carry contains this type of left-wing rhetoric.

One suspects that the young writers churning out this material graduated from left-wing journalism schools such the one Kathleen McElroy might have envisioned for Texas A&M.

And sponsors flock by the dozens to fund this type of biased, one-sided journalism.  The Tribune lists hem at the bottom of each article.  But we get the same thing in the Dallas Morning News, the Austin American-Statesman, the Houston Chronicle, and other big-city newspapers, and we get it from the Associated Press.  If you want unbiased, down-the-line reporting, you might try The Epoch Times. 

Meanwhile, just think about a statewide, Texas-based, down-the-line, online newspaper, free and accessible to all with top-notch journalism and well-written stories.  It’s a great idea.

Someone ought to do it!

Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter.  Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us.  Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoolley.  Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site.  Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.

Stitches in Time is fiction.  But so are a lot of newspaper articles.  Just sayin’.