Viewers of KPRC may fondly remember Rob Johnson, the former anchor who made a name for himself here through such death-defying news pieces as How to Escape from a Submerged Car and How to Fend Off a Dog Attack. (Hey, we didn’t say he made a good name for himself.)
Johnson now works at a Chicago station, but he’s injecting himself back into the local TV-news war. On February 16 someone from KHOU posted a message to the “Shoptalk” section of the industry Web site www.tvspy.com, extolling a recent report by The Defenders.
“KHOU-TV’s investigative team of David Raziq, Anna Werner and Chris Henao was the first to break a story about what may be a national safety issue,” the posted message read. “In an eight-minute investigative report … the team uncovered a possible trend of deadly car accidents involving Ford Explorers with Firestone Radial ATX tires.”
It went on to describe the alleged troubles with the tires and the car.
Two days later Johnson weighed in: “For the record the possible link between Ford Explorer accidents and Firestone tires is old news in Houston,” he wrote. “Back in 1996, former KPRC anchor Brette Lea put together a fabulous two-part report on the subject. Just thought you’d like to know before KHOU investigators break their arms patting themselves on the back.”
Snippy, snippy. We’re sure this battle will go on, with KHOU defending The Defenders, but we kind of hope they take it outside.
Johnson will no doubt be glad to know that the current staff of KPRC has not dropped the noble investigation baton of his former co-anchor. The station’s Joe Vasquez had a searing report this week on how easy it is to buy a gun in Houston.
Not, by the way, how easy it is to buy a gun illegally. No, Vasquez — armed with a stopwatch to time the transaction — went to sporting-goods stores to show that you could buy sporting goods in stores that sell sporting goods.
As he pointed out, there’s no waiting period in Texas. And he passed the mandatory background check easily.
It took 22 minutes to walk out with a gun, he solemnly reported, in what seemed for a second to be an investigation on poor service in gun shops.
The best part — Vasquez was filmed inside the stores, making a perfectly legal purchase from a perfectly bored clerk, with a hidden camera.
Next week: a Channel 2 undercover investigation on how easy it is to get an R-rated video at Blockbuster!
Grade Inflation
They’re apparently grading on the curve at the Houston Chronicle.
A recent story noted how Governing magazine had rated 35 cities across the nation on how well they deliver public services.
“City Is Rated Average for Management,” the headline read. The story noted quickly that Dallas had received the same marks, and that Houston’s overall C-plus grade “included a B-plus in financial management.”
The Chron apparently has a pretty generous idea of what constitutes an “average” rating. The C-plus ranking put Houston squarely in the bottom third of the cities rated.
Two other C-plus cities did stories on the report, according to the Lexis/Nexis search engine, and both took a decidedly less upbeat view of their respective city’s performance.
“A yearlong study of 35 cities in the United States has found that Richmond is mired solidly among the mediocre,” read the lede in the Richmond Times Dispatch. The Memphis Commercial Appeal‘s headline was ” ‘D’ for Hiring, Managing Staff Hurts City Grade,” and the lede said, “Memphis’s C-plus grade in a new study on city management includes plenty of criticism for the way the [mayor]’s administration hires and manages employees.”
Hey, hey — ease off, guys. Your city’s grades were “average.” At least according to the Chron.
Voice Mail Hell
The Chronicle, when it isn’t putting a sunny view on things, wants you to know that it really, really cares what you think. It wants to hear from you.
Unless, apparently, you’re business columnist L.M. Sixel. Each week she — like other Chron columnists — invites readers to call her with their thoughts via voice mail.
She doesn’t promise to listen to their voice mails, though.
In prima facie evidence that some of our readers have far, far too much time on their hands, we present the crusade of Bob Martin. Martin has gotten very annoyed, somehow, with Sixel’s ignoring her reader’s input.
“The voice-mail box is always full and unable to take new messages,” he writes. “I called her about this over 2 years ago (I had to call through the regular Chronicle switchboard) and told her that the mail box is always full. She admitted that she knew it was full. She said that her baby had been sick and that she did not have time to empty the mail box so that it would accept new calls. She did offer her direct dial number and then said that if people really wanted to get a hold of her, then they could call the main switchboard.
“Well, that was over 2 years ago and the voice mail box is still full….Anyway, almost every Friday morning as I am reading the Friday paper, I call (713) 220-2000 and then press 1002 and get the ‘mail box full’ message. I have been monitoring this to see how many years she will keep the mail box full. It’s pretty ridiculous that a major newspaper would print a phone number that doesn’t work every week for at least 2 years.”
Inspired by the intrepid investigative reporting of KPRC’s Vasquez, we looked into the matter and forced a response out of Sixel. “Thanks for the reminder,” she admitted under intense e-mail questioning. “After I got your e-mail I listened to all the messages. I will keep a closer eye on the calls I get on the recorded line.”
Hey, we’re just doing our job, Sixel.
And Houston, please — don’t thank us. Thank Bob Martin.
E-mail the News Hostage at rich.connelly@houstonpress.com.
This article appears in Feb 24 – Mar 1, 2000.