IS THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE BIASED?
There have been recent allegations that the Houston Chronicle is biased. From my personal experience, I believe that these allegations are true. More specifically, when I ran for Houston City Council in 2019, reporter Jasper Scherer wrote a hit piece alleging that I funded a mailer to deceive voters. The worst part was that he didn't even bother calling the organization that issued the mailer or me. After I saw what Jasper Scherer wrote, I was appalled. During this time, I had been speaking with the Houston Chronicle about a marketing campaign. Immediately, I contacted my sales representative and told them I was no longer interested. They even made inuendos that suggesting that the Houston Chronicle would retaliate against me.
This is what consultant Amanda Orr posted:
Republican and independent judicial candidates, I want to urge you, in no uncertain terms, to NOT participate in Houston Chronicle’s candidate screenings. I just found out that the editorial board has chosen to enlist the help of a current public relations professional in their judicial screening process. To give you an idea of how unethical that is, it would be like me being part of Houston Chronicle’s screening process for the Sheriff’s race. Guess who I’m going to recommend for endorsement? My client. Having ANY current PR consultant take part in the screening process could lead to that person recommending their last client. Or the candidate that could potentially bring their company the most money. Or a candidate they want as a client. Or the candidate that can bring them more clients. The conflicts of interest being displayed by the Houston Chronicle editorial board are outrageous and an insult Houstonians. The Houston Chronicle is not a PAC, but it’s editorial board conducts itself as if it is and it’s destroying the brand. If you are a judicial candidate, Republican of influence, current judge, attorney or just someone who cares about taking a stand against the incredible bias demonstrated by the Houston Chronicle editorial board, please share with your Republican judicial candidate friends. I won’t call this person out publicly. But I suggest you read thoroughly the email that Michael Lindenberger sent to you and Google the names he mentions. Once you enter public relations, your journalism career is over. No matter how wonderful it was. Believe me, leaving journalism after two decades was a hard decision, I’d worked for some of the most esteemed news sources in the world. But it is a conflict of interest for someone to have one foot in each discipline.