Houston Press Newspaper

[VicMan]

11 hours ago, IronTiger said:

 

The "driving down Katy Freeway" was supposed to be a slight exaggeration of what his articles often contain, and as for the latter complaint, the Texas Monthly snippets can be found on Google Books (search any of the quotes on that, you'll hit multiple 1983 volumes of Texas Monthly). It's okay to pull out these sorts of things, after all, there are whole blogs composed of newspaper clippings and others, and I know that I often use old ads and articles for discussion pieces in the Historic Houston section, but I don't pass myself off as a journalist while taking half of the content wholesale. (On the outside chance that you are John Nova Lomax under a screen name, I never said your content wasn't occasionally interesting).

 

I'm not Lomax, but I did enjoy his work. I particularly liked the derivative article "Seoul of Houston".

 

Yes, Texas Monthly archives are available online, but many publications are not. Houston Chronicle articles before 1985 are not online, and Houston Post articles are not available online at all (due to legal issues).

[mkultra25]

2 hours ago, VicMan said:

Yes, Texas Monthly archives are available online, but many publications are not. Houston Chronicle articles before 1985 are not online, and Houston Post articles are not available online at all (due to legal issues).

 

Translation: the Chronicle would prefer to let the memory of the Post remain dormant, so as not to invite unflattering comparisons with the Chronicle. I subscribed to both the Post and the Chron for years, and there was no question in my mind that the Post was the better paper. It's depressing to contemplate that with each passing year, there are fewer and fewer people around who remember when Houston was actually a two-newspaper town, and was the better for it. 

 

As to Lomax, I defy anyone to read this piece and tell me honestly that he is not a truly gifted writer. Lumping him in with all of the other web-content aggregators who like to claim the title of journalist does him a great disservice, IMO:

 

Of Unknown Origin

[IronTiger]

29 minutes ago, mkultra25 said:

As to Lomax, I defy anyone to read this piece and tell me honestly that he is not a truly gifted writer. Lumping him in with all of the other web-content aggregators who like to claim the title of journalist does him a great disservice, IMO:

 

Of Unknown Origin

Having his mother be a drug-addled violent hippie may earn Lomax my sympathy, but even if that article wasn't a fluke (something about broken clocks), why are all of his other works clearly phoned in?

[VicMan]

13 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

 

Translation: the Chronicle would prefer to let the memory of the Post remain dormant, so as not to invite unflattering comparisons with the Chronicle. I subscribed to both the Post and the Chron for years, and there was no question in my mind that the Post was the better paper. It's depressing to contemplate that with each passing year, there are fewer and fewer people around who remember when Houston was actually a two-newspaper town, and was the better for it. 

 

As to Lomax, I defy anyone to read this piece and tell me honestly that he is not a truly gifted writer. Lumping him in with all of the other web-content aggregators who like to claim the title of journalist does him a great disservice, IMO:

 

Of Unknown Origin

 

The legal issues are explained here: http://blog.chron.com/aboutchron/2005/07/houston-post-archives-permanently-unavailable-online-maybe-likely-really/

 

They did put Post articles online, but yanked them after New York Times Co. v. Tasini was decided by SCOTUS in 2001; it held that articles written by freelance journalists can't be licensed for online databases by newspapers. The Chron said they wanted to sift through articles to determine which ones were allowable and which ones weren't, but decided they weren't willing to do this with the resources they had.

[mkultra25]

18 hours ago, IronTiger said:

Having his mother be a drug-addled violent hippie may earn Lomax my sympathy, but even if that article wasn't a fluke (something about broken clocks), why are all of his other works clearly phoned in?

 

I don't think we're ever going to see eye to eye on this, so I'll leave it at that. I'm not surprised that we're having this discussion, though - the Lomax family's heritage in the field of music has long been a controversial subject, with some folks feeling that the family legacy is one of shining a light onto hidden treasures through persistent and skillful curation, and some holding an opposing view that they have unfairly feathered their own nests on the backs and through the efforts of others. 

[mkultra25]

6 hours ago, VicMan said:

 

The legal issues are explained here: http://blog.chron.com/aboutchron/2005/07/houston-post-archives-permanently-unavailable-online-maybe-likely-really/

 

They did put Post articles online, but yanked them after New York Times Co. v. Tasini was decided by SCOTUS in 2001; it held that articles written by freelance journalists can't be licensed for online databases by newspapers. The Chron said they wanted to sift through articles to determine which ones were allowable and which ones weren't, but decided they weren't willing to do this with the resources they had.

 

Indeed, but the key phrase is "they weren't willing to do this with the resources they had." Other newspapers managed to overcome the obstacles imposed by the SCOTUS ruling, so why couldn't the Chronicle muster the institutional will to do so? It's pretty clear that the window for action has most likely closed, as newspaper revenues have sharply declined in the intervening years since the ruling.

[VicMan]

5 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

 

Indeed, but the key phrase is "they weren't willing to do this with the resources they had." Other newspapers managed to overcome the obstacles imposed by the SCOTUS ruling, so why couldn't the Chronicle muster the institutional will to do so? It's pretty clear that the window for action has most likely closed, as newspaper revenues have sharply declined in the intervening years since the ruling.

 

The wording in the article itself was:

 

Quote

Read said. “When it was determined that identifying and blocking disallowed content was not going to be possible with the resources available for the task, we updated the notice in the “About Archives” resource box on the page to indicate this. "

 

... so I suspect newspaper revenues were already getting tighter and the company/parent company determined it would cost too much money.

[UtterlyUrban]

Taking a walk through downtown these days shows countless “newspaper/alt paper distribution kiosks” that have long ago been abandoned.  The city needs to rip them out and recycle the steel.  As of now, they are simply industrial flotsam and raise potential security issues.

 

 

[VicMan]

2 hours ago, UtterlyUrban said:

Taking a walk through downtown these days shows countless “newspaper/alt paper distribution kiosks” that have long ago been abandoned.  The city needs to rip them out and recycle the steel.  As of now, they are simply industrial flotsam and raise potential security issues.

 

 

Aren't those now used by Greensheet and Spanish language papers?

[UtterlyUrban]

1 hour ago, VicMan said:

Aren't those now used by Greensheet and Spanish language papers?

Perhaps a few but all I see are empty.

[IronTiger]

22 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

 

I don't think we're ever going to see eye to eye on this, so I'll leave it at that. I'm not surprised that we're having this discussion, though - the Lomax family's heritage in the field of music has long been a controversial subject, with some folks feeling that the family legacy is one of shining a light onto hidden treasures through persistent and skillful curation, and some holding an opposing view that they have unfairly feathered their own nests on the backs and through the efforts of others. 

I don't have a personal beef with Lomax or his family, I was mostly thinking in terms of overall quality of output. (And speaking of which, Lomax's work is far better than say, Jef Rouner's, but that needs to go without saying).

[sheeats]

On 12/8/2017 at 2:43 PM, mkultra25 said:

 

I hope I didn't curse her by posting that, but it appears that as of a few days ago she is no longer there and has been replaced by one of the recently-laid-off Press staffers. Not sure what happened, but I'm very sorry to see her go, as she was IMO a crucial element of what really made the magazine (and its online component) worth reading and distinguished it from the pack of anodyne competitors. And I say that with no slight intended toward her successor, who I'm sure will do a good job. 

Y'all are too kind. I love that the HAIF community is still going strong; I hate that quality local coverage like that the Houston Press provided is going away in so many major markets, from NYC to LA. It's depressing to watch but I have hopes that something greater will be created out of this current cycle of destruction.

And don't worry -- you didn't curse me. I left Houstonia last month to pursue something entirely different at Rice. My replacement at the magazine is an incredibly talented Press writer who is bringing major reporting chops to the table. She's joined by another Houston Press writer who was brought over after the demise of the paper, and they join a roster of phenomenal writers (and honestly terrific human beings). I have no doubt Houstonia will continue to thrive and produce the kind of quality independent journalism that's so crucial right now.

[mkultra25]

1 hour ago, sheeats said:

And don't worry -- you didn't curse me. I left Houstonia last month to pursue something entirely different at Rice. My replacement at the magazine is an incredibly talented Press writer who is bringing major reporting chops to the table. She's joined by another Houston Press writer who was brought over after the demise of the paper, and they join a roster of phenomenal writers (and honestly terrific human beings). I have no doubt Houstonia will continue to thrive and produce the kind of quality independent journalism that's so crucial right now.

 

Very glad to hear that your career transition was by choice. Rice is a great place to work, and I have no doubt you'll enjoy it (I'm both an alum and a former staffer, having worked there for several years after graduation). Also happy for the Press writers who have already landed new positions that will enable them to remain active in local journalism. 

[Reefmonkey]

On 12/15/2017 at 9:15 PM, mkultra25 said:

 

Translation: the Chronicle would prefer to let the memory of the Post remain dormant, so as not to invite unflattering comparisons with the Chronicle. I subscribed to both the Post and the Chron for years, and there was no question in my mind that the Post was the better paper. It's depressing to contemplate that with each passing year, there are fewer and fewer people around who remember when Houston was actually a two-newspaper town, and was the better for it.

 

Not only was the Post a better paper than the Chronicle, but the Chron was itself a better paper when it had the Post to compete against. I remember almost immediately upon buying the Post and stopping production of it, the thickness of the Chronicle decreased noticeably. The Chron used to have better fishing reports than the Post did; those reports really declined in detail and scope fast. Next to Leon Hale's columns, those pre-Post buyout fishing reports were the only reason I ever picked up a Chronicle.  It's good to see Lynn Ashby of the Post is still around and writing, he must be getting up there in years.

[Reefmonkey]

On 12/17/2017 at 2:59 PM, IronTiger said:

 (And speaking of which, Lomax's work is far better than say, Jef Rouner's, but that needs to go without saying).

 

Rouner is the absolute worst. About a year and a half ago I commented on one of his posts, something about feminism. I know, that really narrows it down, since he links about 90% of his screeds to feminism at least some way. Anyway, I was respectful, did not attack Rouner, didn't even really argue over his writing that much, just took a middle-of-the-road position on the issue that differed from his extreme left position. He responded with a barrage of personal insults against me, accused me of making up a personal experience I shared, accused me of making up having a wife, typical online flaming troll behavior. And he got one of his personal friends who comments on most of his articles to lay in on me too. Normally I just walk away from trolls, but he was more than just a troll, he was an employee of a paper I've been a loyal reader of since before this little tool had pubes, a paper I've been a customer of by running ads for events for a charity I'm involved in, I decided to send an email to Margaret Downing. To her credit, her response was good:

 

Quote

Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I have discussed this with Jef just now and I can assure you I reinforced with him that it is not our policy to argue with readers who enter comments on our site -- other than to clear up any facts of our stories that might be called into question. He will not do this again. I would rather he write more stories for us than engage in a comments fight with a reader. I apologize on behalf of the Houston Press.- Margaret downing

 

But if anyone should have lost their employment with the Press, staff or contributing, it should have been him, he adds absolutely nothing of value to that publication. Just two months ago he published a piece advising parents to teach their young daughters to punch boys who inappropriately touch them at school in the face, choke them until they pass out. Don't get me wrong, I have a ten year old daughter and I've taught her a thing or two about self defense, and will continue to teach more moves as she gets older and starts dating, and I've told her if she ever gets touched inappropriately by a boy at school to say very loud (so the entire class can hear) "DO NOT TOUCH ME ON THE _______" But advising violence disroprortionate to the threat, and at school no less, that's insanely reckless and irresponsible.

[IronTiger]

On 1/8/2018 at 0:13 PM, Reefmonkey said:

But if anyone should have lost their employment with the Press, staff or contributing, it should have been him, he adds absolutely nothing of value to that publication. Just two months ago he published a piece advising parents to teach their young daughters to punch boys who inappropriately touch them at school in the face, choke them until they pass out. Don't get me wrong, I have a ten year old daughter and I've taught her a thing or two about self defense, and will continue to teach more moves as she gets older and starts dating, and I've told her if she ever gets touched inappropriately by a boy at school to say very loud (so the entire class can hear) "DO NOT TOUCH ME ON THE _______" But advising violence disroprortionate to the threat, and at school no less, that's insanely reckless and irresponsible.

 

That wasn't the half of it. During the whole "Gamergate" an individual known as Sarah Nyberg (born male but identifies as female) was accused of pedophilia based on some leaked chat logs from Nyberg's website regarding sexual fantasies with young children (which Nyberg admitted were legitimate). Rouner then responded to the controversy by tweeting him a picture of his daughter in a Chewbacca hoodie to "cheer [Nyberg] up". After right-wing websites picked the story up, Rouner deleted the tweet and then responded with some pathetic damage control that mostly blamed his opponents rather than the dubious things he actually did do. His existing articles on Cracked don't help his case in what his opponents claim he does. Even if Rouner isn't what his opponents claim (a pedophilia enabler/advocate) he is a buffoon who makes incredibly poor decisions and can't take responsibility for his own actions.

 

Rouner was only one of 50 contributors to Houston Press, so he didn't lose his job because he wasn't really "employed" by them in the first place.