There was some happy reaction when Channel 13 announced that former morning anchor Gina Gaston was returning to the station after almost two years. But not in all corners.
Nothing against Gaston, who comes back to Houston after working for the MSNBC cable network. But she’ll be replacing longtime KTRK reporter Minerva Perez as weekend anchor, and that has caused some grumbling among Hispanic activists in Houston.
An e-mail is being circulated around town expressing displeasure and urging folks to take some not-yet-determined action against the decision to limit Perez’s anchor duties to the barely seen weekend morning shift.
“I know that many of us have been helped in one way or another by Minerva Perez. I also know the importance of Hispanic role models for our children,” says the e-mail (our copy of which blacks out the name of the original writer). “Channel 13 has a poor history with Latinos. Basically every Latino who’s worked there has either been fired, passed over or demoted.”
Among those listed in the “fired, passed over or demoted” category are weatherman Joe Diaz, news director Richard Longoria, weekend morning anchor Teresa Rodriguez and veteran reporters Elma Barrera and Cynthia Cisneros.
“With Gina coming back, 13 will have five African-American anchors….As for Latinos on major shows, it’s Minerva Perez and Art Rascon,” co-anchor of the 5 p.m. news, the e-mail says. “Doesn’t Channel 13 believe that the Hispanic community is soon going to be more than half the population? They certainly don’t based on the moves they’re making.”
Representatives from the League of United Latin American Citizens met with Channel 13 execs March 8 to express their concerns, but nothing much occurred, says Mitchell Contreras of the civil rights group.
KTRK general manager Henry Florsheim told Contreras and LULAC’s Mary Ramos that Perez’s move to weekend morning anchor was absolutely not a demotion. “He stated every news spot is vital to Channel 13’s success,” Contreras wrote to other LULAC members, only barely getting across the heartwarming, team-building sentiment Florsheim no doubt imparted.
Perez has a lot of friends in the community — she’s the immediate past president of the Houston Association of Hispanic Media Professionals, for one thing. She didn’t return a phone call seeking comment.
Also playing shy was KTRK news director Dave Strickland. We faxed him a copy of the e-mail at his request, and he said he’d get back to us with his reaction, but didn’t.
Contreras says he and others will continue meeting with KTRK to keep the pressure on.
We Get Letters
A reader writes:
“Oy vay. Why do I live here?
“When the only newspaper in the United States’ fourth-largest city has a top of fold headline ‘U.S. will use unadjusted census data in redistricting,’ I seriously wonder how I can continue to associate myself with Houston. A city with a boring newspaper is boring.
“What kind of geeky editor does it take to think that the most smashing, hottest, scintillating and titillating story a Houston reader could possibly be interested in is a report on unadjusted census data and how it affects redistricting?
“Who’s in charge of the Chron front page? An accountant?
“Is not Bob Lanier’s rush to emergency room more interesting to a Houston reader? (Metro section, page 1) Here is a man widely credited for being one of Houston’s best and most beloved mayors. Is that not worthy of front page, top of fold, in place of an accounting story?
“And look at these gems inside the Lanier story: ‘Lanier’s wife, Elyse, called 911 after the former mayor’s automatic heart defibrillator went off during a luncheon at the Houston Club downtown. Eight minutes later, not wanting to wait for an ambulance, Lanier got a ride to St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in a Suburban driven by paramedics who responded to the call. Mayor Lee Brown, attending a separate luncheon at the Houston Club, gave the order that it was OK to transport Lanier in the sport utility vehicle.’
“Mayor Brown has power to OK transport of emergency victims? Huh?
“Sorry, had to vent.”
That’s what we’re here for, man. The census story is important enough, we’ll grant, but the We Dare You to Read This headline was pure Chron.
Hello, Pulitzer
Annals of Investigative Reporting, Chapter 14: The Houston Chronicle‘s hard-hitting investigative journalists never let a little bureaucratic stonewalling get in the way of setting the truth free. The latest example came March 3, in the game-preview box by Houston Aeros beat writer Scott Kaiser.
“John Tripp was waived on Friday,” reported Kaiser, or whoever put the box together. “Aeros head coach Dave Barr would not reveal who he was adding to the roster, but it may be Syracuse Crunch right wing Scott Hollis.”
Take that, Coach Barr. Mr. Big Secrets. We have ways of making people talk here at the Chron.
Maybe the scoop wasn’t that impressive, however. The day before, the Aeros media office put out a press release announcing that one Scott Hollis was coming to the team, replacing John Tripp.
The Aeros, by the way, are a hockey team. We know Houston’s not much of a hockey town, but it’s not getting much help from the Chronicle. No matter who’s writing the game stories — Kaiser, or whatever freelancer the paper gets to cover an away game — you can all but guarantee that the by-the-numbers account will feature Barr talking about The Effort the team made that night.
Just in the past six weeks:
March 5 — ” ‘He played great,’ Barr said of Hollis. ‘He looked a little rusty in the first, but after that, I was very happy with his effort.’ “
February 25 — ” ‘As a coach, the first thing I look for is effort and I thought we got good effort from the first guy to the last. We just didn’t play a perfect game.’ “
February 23 — ” ‘The guys are disappointed because they didn’t play as well as we want. We didn’t get the effort that we’ve been getting the last month.’ “
February 11 — ” ‘It was a good effort. I’m just glad we finally beat’ ” a particular goalie.
January 28 — ” ‘We didn’t have a good first period, but other than that, I was pleased with our effort.’ “
Enough. We would have gone back further, but frankly, it didn’t seem worth the effort.
This article appears in Mar 15-21, 2001.