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July 14, 2005
MediaSource -- Who Cares?? The Chronicle Does!!
As a scandal swirls around a top White House advisor; as London recovers from terrorist attacks; as our State legislature flounders its way through a special session on two mildly important issues -- public education and tax revenue; as our brave American military personnel continue to toil in the killing sands of Iraq; as Houston floods for the third consecutive day; what does our hometown paper focus on? Access TV.
Today Matt Stiles treats us to the latest episode in the serial drama of the last week plus -- the funding fate of Houston Access TV, and its occasionally prurient programming.
To be sure, the story has all the ingredients of the info-tainment that passes for news these days -- slightly racy programming, a wack-o-licious Council Member railing against publicly funded smut, earnest youth fighting for free speech and a chance to make their television mark, asleep-at-the-wheel station management, and the whole kit and kaboodle up for funding before City Council. It's a reality show waiting for development.
Except, who cares? For the 67 or 68 people who actually watch Access TV (Houtopia among them), they either know exactly what they're looking for, or stop to catch a wave while channel-surfing in a chemically induced haze.
Oh yeah, somebody at the Chronicle cares too, because the several hundred thousand people who actually read the paper have been subjected to daily reports on the broo-hah-hah in nauseating detail, and even a staff editorial on the subject.
Enough!! This is a station with an $800,000 budget that nobody watches, and City Council needs to take a month to "cool off" about whether to fund it?? Enforce some rules to keep boobies off the boob tube while the kiddies are awake, and be done with it!
And then we can get back to something important, like what will Tom Cruise say next?
Posted by houtopia at July 14, 2005 11:19 PM