Documents obtained by The Headliner suggest Dallas-based political consultant and a leading candidate to head the Texas Democratic Party Kendall Scudder may have solicited money from progressive Democrats to line his own pockets. Concerned party insiders are sounding the alarm, suggesting Scudder is running afoul of ethics rules and may even be ineligible to run.

Catch Up Quick: On March 29th, Texas Democrats will gather at a special meeting in Austin to elect a new party chairperson. To prevail, a candidate must win a majority of votes among State Democratic Executive Committee members. The last Texas Democratic Party chair, Gilberto Hinojosa, stepped down during the party’s last convention after serving in the role for a decade. Leading candidates for the race include two Houston-based democrats, Patricia Olivares and Lillie Schecter.

The Details: Records reveal that Represent Texas - a PAC led by Scudder to elect Democrats, appears to have been used in part as a pass-through to pay his own political consulting companies.

One public filing reveals that Scudder’s PAC at one point raised almost $25,000. However, more than $19,000 of those dollars were redirected to a company owned by Scudder called “The Sendery” based out of Dallas. Another firm owned by Scudder, "Armadilla Strategies" appears to be the recipient of PAC funds as well.

Show me the money: Scudder has also allegedly failed to abide ethics rules requiring his campaign to file a 30-day finance report to the Texas Ethics Commission. The lack of disclosure is worrying grassroots democrats and party faithful under severe pressure to run a competent party and elect democrats in the Trump era.

Making matters worse, there are now serious questions being raised about Scudders eligibility for office. In response to concerns from progressive party member Susan Criss, the democrats top lawyer issued a formal opinion last week noting that Scudder is ineligible to run because he already holds elective office:

I have concluded that the party rule adopted by the SDEC renders Scudder ineligible to be elected state chair, unless or until he resigns his elective office to the Dallas County Appraisal District Board

- Texas Democratic Party General Counsel Chad Dunn

Why it matters: The timing of these developments couldn't come at a worse time for Texas Democrats, who are still reeling from last year’s disastrous election cycle. As political journalists across Houston and the state focus on legislative battles unfolding in the Texas Legislative session, the high-stakes race to lead Texas Democrats is quietly nearing its conclusion, with little to no mainstream media coverage.

Buried in a Chron story by Ariana Garcia, former KPRC anchor Dominique Sachse said she left Dr. Phil McGraw’s Merit Street Media network partly to protect her journalistic integrity.

“…Sachse said she has long prided herself on her journalistic integrity, and desired to remain part of something unbiased. "That is my gold standard," she said. "So, you take something like that coupled with being spread very thin, coupled with the fact that this was both our first passion to do this, and it sort of started to become really clear of what needed to happen."

Catch Up Quick: Merit Street Media was launched earlier this year by Dr. Phil, billing the network as a place for “common sense,” and news “without spin.” But as we first reported at Headliner, it was never on track to be an objective source for news. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick attended the launch of the network. It also platformed conservative anti-science folk heroes like Texas State Representative-elect Shelly Luther.

Headliner reached out to Dominque to ask for more details about her departure and has not received a response. We’ll update this story with her take if we hear more.

Why it matters: There appears to be much more to Sachse’s departure from Merit Street than is being reported. Are Houston reporters (who love to cover every twist and turn of Sachse’s professional and personal life) missing a bigger story about Sachse taking a stand? Will Sachse be ever be willing to shed light on the inner workings of Dr. Phil’s national network given its enormous reach?

Dozens of elected news makers are now actively using the site including Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, Sen. Molly Cook, County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Rep. Gene Wu, Rep. Jon Rosenthal, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, Commissioner Adrian Garcia, Commissioner Rodney Ellis, Judges Hilary Unger, Jason Cox, and many, many more. (Don’t worry, Evan Mintz is also there posting about the Ike Dike.)

And it’s not just a “left-wing echo chamber.” Folks like the Greater Houston Partnership, Space City Weather, emergency managers at Ready Harris, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and Fox News are there too.

Out in the cold? With the exception of ABC 13 local TV networks seem to be falling behind the curve, letting other outlets eat their lunch with an exploding audience of active users. The only TV reporters we’ve been able to find using the site to mine and share news appear to be ABC 13’s Miya Shay and KPRC’s Justin Stapleton.

The Houston Chronicle has already amassed over 21,000 followers on the platform. Consistent news breaker Scott Braddock from The Quorum Report is also using the site to post the latest on state and local politics.

Why it matters: Houstonians are rapidly losing trust with X after being force-fed a steady diet of right-wing political posts coupled with a lack of moderation against hate speech. With Elon Musk now admitting X is burying posts with links, local media organizations looking to drive traffic and grow their their audience are wise to start looking at alternative ways to engage.

Case in point: More than three hours after sharing a link to their more than 420,000 followers on X, this Fox 26 post garnered almost zero engagement and merely 700 views.

According to NBC, one newspaper in Mississippi is getting 20 times more engagement on Bluesky than on X.

Pittman’s outlet, the Mississippi Free Press, already has more followers on Bluesky (28,500) than it ever did on X (22,000), the platform formerly known as Twitter, and Pittman said the audience engagement on Bluesky is booming.

Did we miss anything? E mail us at houstonheadliner at gmail dot com.

Zoom Out: This dramatic shift in public opinion coincides with a wide array of data confirming declines in violent crime both locally and nationally.

Just yesterday, Harris County Sheriff Chief Mike Lee posted news on X corroborating significant decreases in murders, robberies, aggravated assaults and more across Harris County.

A report issued from AH Datalytics in April revealed a massive, 25% drop in homicides in Houston. HPD has announced decreases in both violent and non violent crime. Additionally, FBI data shows violent crime in Houston has trended downward since 2020.

Doug Griffith, President of the Houston Police Union - and someone who isn’t exactly known for calming concerns about crime - confirmed these trends as well:

“I believe that the crime rate reduction is two fold.  First, the Officers from each of the respective departments in and around Houston, have been working very hard to bring down violent crime.  There has been a slight uptick in Burglary of Motor vehicles, but most other crime is starting to slow down.  The second reason is the judges.  After the large push to get the liberal judges like Greg Glass and Franklin Binum out of officer, the courts have started to take crime more seriously.  I believe that we have shined such a spot light on the activist judges that the others have taken notice and started doing their jobs.  We see higher bonds, and more people going to trial than in this year then the last four combined.  Violent Offenders are now being tried and sentenced to prison, where they belong.  Knowing that 10% of individuals commit 90 % of the crime, we can target that 10% and put theme where they belong, behind bars.”

But, But, But: Not everyone believes these trends are real. Griffith is at odds with local TV reporter Randy Wallace, who produces the controversial “Breaking Bond” crime-scare series for Fox 26. Wallace - without evidence - pushed back against the findings:

“I question the validity of the crime stats I believe crime remains one of the top concerns for Houstonians.”

We’ve asked Dr. Michael Adams - one of the authors of the study - for his response to Wallace and will update this post if we get one.

Why it matters: There appears to be a growing divide between Houstonians and police who are seeing for themselves an improvement in public safety and the outdated crime-scare driven editorial choices being made by local TV reporters, deep-pocketed political action committees supporting Republican candidates, and tough-on-crime politicians like Mayor Whitmire, who recently said he did not feel safe at a Kroger in River Oaks. Will Houston-area journalists cover decreases in crime as ardently as they did when trends were moving in the other direction? Will they call out public officials and politicians who politicize heinous crimes and crime survivors?

Renee Cross, Senior Executive Director of the Hobby School of Public Affairs, confirmed to The Headliner that Hansen was forced to remove her post:

“Ms. Hansen was given the survey findings yesterday [Thursday] under embargo. We were made aware of it and immediately asked for the removal of the tweet.”

We’ve reached out to several local journalists who were scooped by Hansen to get their take on Hansen’s post. Andrew Schneider, Senior Reporter for Politics and Government for Houston Public Media told Headliner he was unaware of Hansen breaking the embargo:

“Generally, our practice at HPM is to honor such embargoes when they are requested as a condition for an interview or the release of a report. I can’t speak to Hansen’s decision making process that led her to break the embargo, and it is up to the Hobby School to decide how to respond to her action.”

Cross declined to say whether Hansen would be provided with embargoed news from the school in the future.

Zoom Out: Embargoes are commonly employed by PR flacks as a way to provide journalists sufficient time to process the significance of lengthy reports and surveys, conduct interviews with experts, and do the basic tasks of reporting - mostly without concern that they’ll be scooped by others. Ground rules on when to publish are clearly articulated in exchange for receiving newsworthy information ahead of time. It’s a longstanding practice in mainstream journalism and these “gentlemen’s agreements” are rarely broken.

Why it matters: The breach of trust between The Texan and the Hobby School raises more questions about the role fringe and partisan outlets play in covering local politics. As newsrooms continue to shrink, deep-pocketed partisans are increasingly funding “pink slime” sites like The Texan, Texas Scorecard, The Texas Voice, and more. While these sites are designed to appear objective, their primary purpose is to advance a specific, often right-wing, agenda. The Texan, for instance, is run by Konni Burton, a self-described 'conservative activist."

Over the past several years, a staggering number of Houston’s TV reporters have graduated from jobs at our local network affiliate newsrooms to shilling for conservative causes on right-wing media outlets.

Over the summer, ABC 13’s Brooke Taylor was picked up by Fox News as their new Dallas-based correspondent.

In January, long-time KPRC evening news anchor Dominque Sachse was lured out of retirement to work for the right-of-center Merit Street Media. (As we’ve already covered, their launch was attended by none other than Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.)

Ivory Hecker, who was fired from Fox 26 in 2021 for espousing batshit crazy views on COVID-19 is now a correspondent with far, far-right One America News network.

Shara Fryer is co-host of the daily morning news on far-right KTRH 740 where she frequently espouses debunked election denialism claims, platforms right-wing extremists, and shills for ultra conservative politicians. Fryer was behind the desk at ABC 13 for decades with her former colleague Dave Ward, whose conservative bias has bubbled up to the surface in retirement. He has endorsed GOP candidates like Tony Buzbee, Alex Mealer and others.

Some local journos don’t need to leave their jobs to push a rightward agenda.

Fox 26’s Greg Groogan and Randy Wallace are already known locally as spokespeople for conservative crime narratives, polititians, and causes, laundering GOP talking points and putting them on TV. Wallace, through his “Breaking Bond” crime-scare series and Groogan with his weekly “What’s Your Point?” program, where he hosts a diverse array of GOP-aligned guests with spurious agendas and financial backers he fails to disclose.

KPRC’s Mario Diaz was a Communications Director for Republican Senator John McCain in 2008.

Why it matters: This pattern runs counter to frequent GOP claims of left-wing media bias in Houston and raises questions about the state of TV newsroom cultures across our media market. Are millions of viewers in Houston unknowingly getting their information filtered through a biased lens?

What do you think? Is our local TV news skewed in one direction? Is Houston unique in sourcing a disproportionate number of news people to conservative news?

Following Rep. Shawn Thierry’s very public switch to the Republican party last month, Fox 26’s Greg Groogan aired what can only be described as a sympathetic cheerleading segment for the outgoing Houston-area politician. In a not-so-subtle tell of his own personal political bias, Conservative political reporter Groogan asked Thierry exactly zero questions during a segment he hosted with Thierry, choosing instead to provide Thierry with an unfiltered platform to convey misinformation about gender affirming care.

Not only did Groogan fail to challenge Thierry’s comments falsely equating gender affirming care with “population control,” but Groogan actually took sides and validated Thierry’s views by adding his own editorial remarks to her comments - statements that also happen to align with GOP talking points:

Groogan: “So the party of “tolerance” became absolutely intolerant of someone who took a position based on faith, science and their best judgement.”

Groogan: “A super majority of Texans believe that this so-called gender affirming care should not happen until the age of consent - after 18 - which is exactly what you voted for. You voted the will of Texans.”

Groogan: “This may be a case where you didn’t leave your party your party left you.”

Zoom Out: Thierry was booted out of office in May after very publicly meeting with anti LGBTQ+ political operatives and breaking ranks with Democrats to support GOP-sponsored anti-trans legislation. She has since been hired by an anti-trans policy group which has been accused of pushing junk science.

Why it matters: Groogan - who often touts an unbiased “just-the-facts” approach to covering Houston politics- continues to erode that reputation by serving as the go-to “reporter” conservative politicians and causes can exploit to convey their views without scrutiny.

Meanwhile, Thierry seems so pleased with Groogan she has updated her title image on X to an image of her posing with Groogan on the set of his weekly conservative gab-fest, “What’s Your Point?”

The segment aired on Tuesday, June 18th:

Why it matters: Berry’s extreme remarks have long been dismissed as his usual hateful speech. However, KTRH draws financial support through on-air sponsorships from mainstream corporations and local businesses like Xfinity, Houston Methodist, and Abacus Plumbing. Additionally, local elected officials, including Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey, Senator Paul Bettencourt, and others continue to make appearances on Berry’s program.

You can’t make this up: In 2012, Berry became the subject of media scrutiny after being involved in a hit-and-run accident at a well-known gay bar in Houston.

Fallout: We’ve reached out to several sponsors of KTRH radio and iHeartRadio - Berry’s podcasting platform - for comment. We will update this post with their response.

In a report that aired last month, ABC 13’s Jessica Willey published harsh, personal attacks from an anonymous source targeting 178th Court Judge Kelli Johnson. In her story, Willey granted opponents of Johnson the ability have free reign to be quoted without being identified in a widely broadcast TV report, a clear violation of basic journalistic standards.

From the report:

ABC13 spoke to people who work in the courthouse. One described Johnson's manic behavior and said, "She's a danger to herself and to the community."

Why it matters: There’s a reason why mainstream news publications rarely allow the use of anonymous quotes - it draws a distinction between actual news and sources that can be trusted vs. tabloid fodder. In this case, Willey squarely landed on the latter.

It gets worse: Willey also relied upon conservative political pundit Mark Jones - who does not have a law degree or expertise on the judicial system - to pile on to the attack. In the story, Jones weighs in on the allegations without having any firsthand knowledge of the claims. It’s worth noting that the right-leaning Baker Institute professor Jones has a long record of spewing conservative talking points in media stories under the guise of being a “non partisan” political expert.

What she said: We reached out to Willey several times to get her response to our questions, including why she relied on Mark Jones for this story and why she ignored previous reports of other judges being absent form the bench. She has declined to respond. If she does so, we’ll update our post.

Zoom out: Judges are often at a disadvantage when attacked by political opponents in the media as they are ethically restrained from publicly commenting on their administrative duties.

The bottom line: Only rarely do trusted journalists grant anonymity to sources, and when they do it’s a high bar to clear. For example, when a source can clearly demonstrate that the information they have is in the public interest or there is a real personal threat to the source if they are identified. Even then, AP guidance cites that anonymity should only be granted in order to provide information, not opinions (as was the case in Willey’s report).

During his time as county judge, Emmett said he instituted a rule that any resolutions added to the agenda must have a direct tie to Harris County, effectively trimming a portion of the meeting that now takes hours to complete.

“That generates a lot of conversation and adds to the length of the meeting,” Emmett said of non county-related resolutions. “And that’s just a choice, neither right nor wrong, but it does add to it.”

Reality check: Documents provided to Headliner show that actually, the rules under which Judge Emmett oversaw proceedings were passed in 2003, prior to Emmett taking office (see image). A separate review of public documents also failed to unearth any evidence showing his purported rule change during his administration.

Meanwhile, video archives also show a long history of Emmett’s court considering resolutions with no clear tie to Harris County, among them resolutions recognizing World AIDS Day, Make a Wish Foundation Day, and Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Day.

The other side: Oxenden and Emmett both chose to not comment in response to questions posed to them by Headliner. This post will be updated with any response we receive.

Why it matters: The long duration of biweekly Commissioners Court meetings rightly deserves public scrutiny from local journalists, but it appears future claims from Emmett should be more thoroughly fact checked, particularly as he continues to align himself with political opponents of the democratically-controlled body.

Update: This story has been updated with a response from City Hall below.

Mayor Whitmire, who has pledged to bring increased transparency to city hall, appears to be willingly playing his part in a shadowy, right-wing effort to kill a local low-income housing project. The 800 Middle Street project is designed to help relocate Hurricane Harvey victims and those displaced by TxDOTs massive I-45 project.

• Whitmire agreed to an “interview” for this paid conspiratorial video produced by slander-for-hire private investigator Wayne Dolcefino. In the video, the mayor all but urges residents who would benefit from the project to sue the city.

• Dolcefino does not disclose who funded his latest video project or its ad budget, but the funds are enough to boost the video as “sponsored” content across at least one social media platform.

Why it matters: The effort to prevent Harvey victims from being relocated to the project is being coordinated by Rachel Palmer Hooper, the top lawyer for the Texas Republican party.

Yes, that Rachel Hooper.

• Using a familiar playbook, Hooper partnered with right-wing journalist Holly Hansen and conservative Fox 26 news commentator Greg Groogan to invent a public scandal - this time a radio tower “fall zone” scare (see here, and here) - to alarm the public and give the Whitmire Administration cover to oppose the project.

• Groogan: “We’ve learned potential residents of 800 Middle Street will also have to worry about tons of steel crashing from the sky into their apartments,”

Reality check: Thousands of Houstonians live within the “fall zone” of large buildings and towers, including residents living downtown and near dozens of other similar transmission towers. There’s no evidence to suggest that this particular tower is at risk of falling any more than other tall structures in our city may be.

You can’t make this up: Fox 26’s own transmission tower near Missouri City appears to be within the “fall zone” of a local firefighting station, the Hardy Toll road, and a residential development. A fact ignored, of course, by Groogan.

Zoom Out: Whitmire is already off to a rocky start to his mayoral term, most recently catching heat for refusing to meet with Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo ahead of hurricane season. Reports that Whitmire has made time for the likes of Dolcefino and anti-public transit activist Bill King run counter to his public defense that he’s too busy to meet with the county’s top elected official.

Whitmire responds: Mary Benton, Mayor Whitmire’s Communications Director had this to say in response to our questions about his participation in Dolcefino’s commercial:

We did not schedule an interview or meeting with Mr. Dolcefino. 

Like other journalists do at times, he showed up at one of the mayor’s publicized events and asked him questions. 

Mayor Whitmire does not run from the media and stopped to speak to Mr. Dolcefino.

The mayor has no knowledge of the issues you mentioned in your article.

At the conclusion of a defiant press conference yesterday, disgraced DA Kim Ogg made another bizarre move: She handed out “challenge coins” to press gathered in the 12th floor of the Criminal Justice Center.

Zoom out: Challenge coins are small, custom-made coins or medallions often used by organizations, military units, or groups to signify membership, boost morale, or commemorate significant events, with a tradition of being exchanged as a token of camaraderie or recognition.

Why it matters: It's ethically dubious to give a gift to any reporter who is supposed to cover you objectively because it may create a conflict of interest, potentially compromising the reporter's ability to maintain impartiality and integrity in their reporting.

Reality check: While challenge coins can be pricey, it’s unlikely yesterday’s giveaway did anything to garner the DA favorable coverage. Still, it points to a greater pattern of ethically compromised behavior from the DA, who has given special treatment to her political allies, selectively leaked details of ongoing criminal investigations to conservative-leaving reporters, taken campaign contributions from her own staff, and so much more.

One more thing: This isn’t the first time Ogg has gifted a reporter something of value. Several years ago she gave former Houston Chronicle reporter Keri Blakinger a…well, let’s say suggestively shaped rock as a gift:

Blakinger’s full X thread on the exchange (including a picture of the rock) is worth a read.

Where you one of the reporters who received a challenge coin? Send us a picture and we’ll post it here. (We’ll keep you anonymous!)

Houston police union leaders Doug Griffith and Ray Hunt appeared jointly on Fox News yesterday to portray their hometown as a dangerous, post-apocalyptical crime-ridden city:

• 'I would not let my wife or my kids walk down the streets of Houston at midnight under any circumstances,' said Hunt.

• "We had the George Floyd effect come down. We can't hire. We can't retain our officers. The people are leaving left and right." said Griffith

Reality check: According to a wide array of official sources, violent crime is down by double digits in Houston, and funding for local law enforcement is at record levels, facts omitted by Fox News reporter Elizabeth Heckman:

• A report issued just last week from AH Datalytics revealed a massive, 25% drop in homicides in Houston.

• Houston Police Chief Troy Finner reported both violent and nonviolent crime declined in a report last Fall.

• FBI data shows violent crime in Houston has trended downward since 2020.

• The budget for Houston Police exceeded $1 billion for the first time last year, according to statistics provided by the City of Houston.

• Harris County spending for law enforcement is also at record levels. Here’s what Republican Pct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey said after the passage of the county’s latest spending plan: “This budget provides $119 million for law enforcement. That is this most significant investment in law enforcement in the history of Harris County,”

We’ve reached out to Heckman for comment and will update this post if and when we get a response.

Why it matters: Media bolstering hair-on-fire claims of a crime spike will continue to lose credibility with the growing number of Houstonians who are experiencing a different reality on the ground. Politically, these latest comments from the union bosses may also put them at odds with the new Whitemire administration, whom they seem to be deliberately calling out as weak-on-crime with these comments.

A new report from AH Datalytics reveals a massive decline in Houston’s murder rate. So far this year, Houston has seen a 25% drop in homicides compared to the same time last year.

Why it matters: KPRC, Fox 26, ABC 13, and KHOU 11 all devote a massive amount of broadcast time to covering violent crime, leading to increasing concerns among voters about local crime. This new data demonstrates that what viewers see daily on TV news and what is actually happening on the ground are two different things.

Zoom out: The report isn’t a one-off. It tracks what local law enforcement agencies are reporting too. Last year, the Houston Police Department reported an 18% decline in violent crime.

Analysis: When crime is up, Houston’s local TV news stations - encouraged by right-leaning groups like crimestoppers - are all too eager to sound the alarm. But when crime drops, they discount the trends by noting that people aren’t feeling it. But aren’t they feeling it because they keep sounding the alarm? The cycle continues.

Go deeper: has much more here. Axios also covers the news here.

Public documents reveal that Republican State Senator Paul Bettencourt - who has led the attack on Harris County’s new anti-poverty program as an illegal “handout” - had himself over $624,000 in PPP loans forgiven by the Federal Government.

posted the receipts, along with further reading documenting the success of guaranteed income program elsewhere.

Zoom out: Bettencourt isn’t the only prominent local republican who wants to have his cake and eat it too when it comes to economic stimulus programs.

• Matt Brice, owner of Federal American Grill, famously refused county lock-down orders during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, receiving national press attention in the process. He called the closure a case of the government picking “winners and losers” and then took more than $300,000 of dollars in forgiven government handouts himself.

• Conservative rabble-rouser Wayne Dolecfino had almost $100,000 in PPP loans forgiven by the government:

Why it matters: Local media shouldn’t take arguments made by local conservatives aimed at government subsidies at face value without looking deeper into their own histories.

Another ham-handed “prediction” from conservative political analyst Mark Jones.

Perhaps hoping no one would notice, Jones quietly deleted an X post predicting that state representative Shawn Thierry would avoid a runoff fight with Lauren Simmons in March’s democratic primary.

Here’s the now deleted post, which was reposted by at least one TV news producer on election day:

Simmons actually bested Thierry 49.4% to 44.5% and the race will be decided in May since neither candidate crossed the threshold.

ICYMI: We’re keeping track of Jones’ history of botched predictions and slanted political commentary here.

Former long-time KPRC anchor Dominique Sachse, the subject of multiple glowing profiles since her departure from local airwaves, received more press attention after announcing she was joining Dr. Phil’s Merit Street Media.

Dr. Phil calls Merit Street a place for “common sense” and news “without spin.” And Sachse has wasted no time self-promoting her new gig.

Reality check: Early signs indicate the venture is gearing up to be another node in a vast right-wing media ecosystem. Here’s what we know:

1. Ariana Garcia from Chron.com reported a right-wing rant from Dr. Phil on Sachse’s new show bemoaning “cancel culture” and “government handouts.”

2. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick - an extreme right republican and no fan of mainstream media - found time to attend the launch of Merit Street Media, signaling his endorsement of their direction.

   

3. Nancy Grace, the queen of advancing right-wing crime rhetoric and scare narratives has been given a show on the network.

4. COVID conspiracy queen and far-right candidate for a Texas House seat Shelley Luther taped a segment for the network this week.

The bottom line: News media covering the new network and their shows would be wise in disclosing to their readers the venture’s clear editorial bias.

News organizations - particularly in large media markets like Houston - endure as useful and powerful institutions.

They provide lifesaving information during disasters.

They inform voters about where candidates stand on important issues.

They entertain us with news about sports and culture.

Perhaps most importantly, they retain the ability to hold powerful people accountable.

But who holds Houston’s news media accountable?

Too often, Houston’s media ecosystem fails to meet the basic standards news consumers should expect. Principles like fairness, truth, and transparency are lost in a drive to compete for clicks, advertising dollars, or in service to a political agenda sheathed as “journalism.” Establishment figures, out of step with Houston’s population are given outsized influence and agenda-setting power.

Our mission is to bolster good journalism while exposing local reporters, media organizations, and power brokers who fail to meet the basic principles of truth, fairness, and transparency.

Starting in the 60’s, major news organizations held themselves accountable by hiring independent ombudsmen. Their job - which often operated outside the chain of command of senior news leadership - was to advocate for readers and hold their organization accountable from the inside. Those positions are extinct - if they ever existed at all - in local markets like ours.

We’re here to fill that gap.

We welcome tips or ideas for content. We’ll also keep you anonymous if desired. Just email us at HoustonHeadliner at gmail dot com.