Jeff Cohen

Houston Chronicle Editor Jeff Cohen Steps Down

In an emailed message to the staff at the Houston Chronicle, and also announced online, Editor Jeff Cohen has announced he is stepping down as editor. Cohen wrote that after 10 years at the head of the daily, he will become Executive Vice President and> Executive Editor, in charge of the publicati ... More >>

Houston Chronicle To Employees: No Raises, But Enjoy The Barbecue & 5k Runs

The Houston Chronicle, like many if not all print-journalism outlets, is still trying to adjust to the ever-changing conditions that have been thrust on it. Fear not: The paper has undertaken a campaign designed to make it one of the "Top 50 Places to Work in Texas." How it's reportedly getting th ... More >>

Chron Admits Journatic Stories May Have Had Fake Bylines

Tucked neatly beneath a photo of Pitbull and next to the lotto numbers in Tuesday's Houston Chronicle A section (page 2, if you're curious) was a "Note to our readers" that detailed the Chron's recent discovery that stories provided to them by Journatic and affiliate Blockshopper had used pseudonyms ... More >>

The Stripper Reporter

Society writer's other job

Sarah Tressler: Houston Chronicle Society Writer By Day, Stripper By Night

It sounds like a bad rom-com book and movie, which no doubt its author hopes it will be -- society reporter for a big-city newspaper by day, stripper by night. That's apparently the life being led by Sarah Tressler, who began writing society stuff for the Houston Chronicle after Douglas Britt left ... More >>

The Chronicle Takes Middle Road on Controversial Doonesbury Strips

This week's Doonesbury strips deal with the Texas law mandating sonograms for women seeking abortions. Many newspapers around the country are refusing to run the strips, which compare what the law requires to "rape" at one point. Some are moving the strip to the op-ed page, or just putting it onli ... More >>

Richard Justice Disses the Chron

When he left his job as the paper's lead sports columnist to write for MLB.com, Richard Justice was effusive in his praise for the Houston Chronicle. "I love newspapers and especially the Chronicle," he told us at the time. "[Chron editor] Jeff Cohen has been incredible to me." Sunday, he wasn't f ... More >>

Joel Osteen's Reality Show

Some suggestions from us.

Chron's Richard Justice Leaves for New Job

Richard Justice leaves the Chron.​Richard Justice, the Houston Chronicle sports columnist who might have the highest profile at the paper, is leaving after 11 years to write for MLB.com, the online service of Major League Baseball. "MLB.com made me a great offer. It's a place of such energy," ... More >>

Chron Art Critic Douglas Britt's Very Odd Meth-Filled, "I'm a Hooker" Blog: Bad Performance Art Or Sign of a Personal Crisis?

For people not involved or interested in Houston's art scene, Houston Chronicle critic Douglas Britt first drew attention with a 1,400-word screed telling PR people how to send pitches to him. Now, he's either desperate for attention or going off the deep end. In what is either a (very tedious) at ... More >>

Heights Art Heist Update

Lawyers loom, tempers flare

Cleveland Gang-Rape Story: Times's Ombudsman Says It Was Flawed

In-house criticism over the East Texas gang-rape coverage​The New York Times's ombudsman has joined the chorus criticizing the paper's coverage of the Cleveland gang-rape of an 11-year-old girl. Arthur S. Brisbane noted that many people thought the story leaned towards blaming the victim and ... More >>

Cleveland Gang-Rape Coverage: Controversy Doesn't Die

A "clusterfuck of fail"?​The heat over media coverage of the Cleveland gang-rape doesn't show much signs of slacking, as critics question whether stories in The New York Times and Houston Chronicle displayed a "blame the victim" tone. A round-up of the latest (We've asked Chronicle editor Je ... More >>

More Consolidation For Chronicle And San Antonio

The Chron-Express News​Hearst's unending efforts to make the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News one and the same continue apace.The latest memo appoints several editors to oversee matters at both papers, and offers tips on how the two can share coverage.Chron editors Laura Goldberg ... More >>

The Single Most Important News Event Of The Weekend -- The Chronicle's New Society Writers

​You might be forgiven for thinking it was a big deal that Annise Parker won the mayor's race this weekend.That little episode was as nothing, in terms of loving column inches devoted to it, as the Houston Chronicle's announcement of its new team that will be covering Houston society ("such as it ... More >>

Houston Is The Villain In Nasty Newspaper Fight In Albany

Houston Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen came to town from Albany, where he was the editor of the Times-Union, another Hearst paper.He brought some people with him, and still runs movie reviews by Amy Biancolli, who still works in upstate New York.The Times-Union is, like many Hearst papers (and papers e ... More >>

Layoffs at the Houston Chronicle

The Black-and-White Blues

Axman at the Houston Chronicle and Bank-Robbing Cops

Highlights from the Blog at HOUSTONPRESS.COM

More Bits And Pieces From The Chron Cuts

We know have a new leader in the clubhouse for Worst Way To Find Out You Lost Your Chronicle Job.Dai Huynh, one of the paper's food writers, was scheduled to come back from maternity leave. The night before she gets a call telling her, in effect, "don't bother."Cold.Remember, our list of names is he ... More >>

Further Breakdown Of The Chron Cuts

Photo by Lori GreigIt might seem like we're harping on the recent round of layoffs at the Houston Chronicle just because we're journalists too ("Hey, how come you don't do ten posts about the layoffs at Schlumberger!!"), but -- as we've said before -- we perhaps naively hold to the thought th ... More >>

For This Awful Economy: The Five Best "You're Fired" Scenes

As someone who's been there, I can empathize with the folks from the Houston Chronicle, Schlumberger, and a host of other companies whose employees have gotten the axe in recent weeks. Not being an HR manager, I can unfortunately only offer up a collection of "laid-off scenes" to help you briefly f ... More >>

Some Thoughts On The Chronicle Cuts: So Long, Suburbs

(Note: For a while, this item was posted with the wrong byline -- it's by Steve Olafson, not Richard Connelly, and always has been. Thanks, and sorry.)The layoffs at the Houston Chronicle cut much deeper into the editorial side of the newspaper than the announced company-wide 12 percent reduction ... More >>

The Chronicle Cuts: Jeff Cohen Ain't Talking

Today's Chronicle carnage is for the most part limited to the advertising/circulation side (Check out the comments on our updated master list of cuts for some unconfirmed names on that side), but the buzz is still about yesterday's bloodbath.We figured it'd be a good idea to talk to Chron editor Jef ... More >>

Chron Cuts: The Jeff Cohen Memo, More Names

Here's Houston Chronicle editor Jeff Cohen's memo to the staff about Black Tuesday:TO: StaffFROM: Jeff CohenRE: Newsroom ReductionThe Chronicle employment cutback that Jack Sweeney has communicated to us began this morning ... More >>

The Houston Chronicle: Now Proudly Featuring Fart Jokes

So it's come to this: In the never-ending battle to make themselves relevant to Teh Kidz, the Houston Chronicle has resorted to fart jokes.You know how Apple has, like this kind of phone thing, and there's ads that show all the crazy stuff you can do with it? (Note for oldsters: That "stuff" is call ... More >>

The Famous And Not-So-Famous Of HISD's "Prominent Alumni" List

You probably don't realize it, but the Houston school district's website has a page dedicated to prominent alumni, listed by high school.Unfortunately, many of the "prominent" alumni are politicians, especially current and former HISD board members. Any definition of "prominent" that includes HISD b ... More >>

Chronicle, San Antonio Paper May Share "Generic" Features

More Houston Chronicle cuts coming?

Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press

A documentary chronicles the never-say-die life of an influential journalist

The Houston Chronicle Cuts, Annotated

What the editor really meant

The Official Memo from Jeff Cohen on the Houston Chronicle Layoffs

He Won't Back Down

The mayor was threatened -- or maybe he wasn't

Burying the Past

A farewell slap to a Chronicle columnist

Pimpin' Ain't Easy

Tension mounts at the Chronicle

Lineup Change

A new writer should shake things up at 801 Texas

Profiles in Boredom

A bright idea, dimly executed, at the local daily

Bloody Sunday

Yet another weekend newspaper magazine bites the dust

War Is Not Hell

The Chron's embedded reporter is far from the action

No-Name Offense

The Chron struggles over whether to name a suspect

Nice, Nice Baby

The holiday spirit lingers on in the Chron

Houston, 24/7

The new all-Houston, all-the-time news station hits the air

Internal Distress

To: Jeff Cohen, CC: The entire World Wide Web

Space Invaders

The Chron loves another convention

Banjo Blues

A Chronicle writer gets canned for running a Web site

Burning Shoe Leather

The Chron's Marshall is out there reporting, dammit

Column Calamity

The Chron editor starts to make a mark

A Model Journalist

A TV anchor does a little promotional work on the side

Bow-Tied Wonder

Plus: Boola Boola, Fault and Pepper, On Blue Berryhill

Swept Away

It's hit-and-miss out there during sweeps month

Hearst 1, Baylor 0

The Chron's owners hire (gasp!) an outsider to run things