Friday, March 9, 2012

People keep asking

Why did I learn about this in the New York Times?

Read the letter in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  So, what's the answer?

Seeking full disclosure\

A warm, nostalgic article in Friday's Texas editions of The New York Times informed me that the Star-Telegram is shuttering its fabled Austin bureau, once the workplace of Molly Ivins, Ken Bunting, Sam Kinch and Karen Potter, who broke important news stories on state politics. The bureau's end apparently means the departure of Davey Joe Montgomery, who has covered politics from the nation's capital to the Texas Legislature. Farewell to another fabled journalist.

Why did I learn about this from The New York Times? Earlier last week, the Star-Telegram informed subscribers it was eliminating several syndicated advice columns and squeezing the comics onto fewer pages. Belatedly, Executive Editor Jim Witt, in a Sunday column, glossed over the bureau closing.
I also learned, from an associate at a nonprofit that Melinda Mason's duties were being eliminated. Mason writes the Fort Worth Social Eyes column and during more than three decades at the newspaper helped the Star-Telegram team with community groups on events. Is the newspaper dropping this function as well?

How about full disclosure to better prepare readers as the daily newspaper we faithfully subscribe to continues its gradual and inevitable decline into the digital age?

-- Hollace Ava Weiner, Fort Worth

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