Curse Them Kids, With Their New Technamanology

If you're looking for mean-spirited media madness, the Statesman's columns are a rich vein to tap. This weekend, it looked like the mother lode would be found in John Kelso's latest tirade against Jeanne Daniels, owner of Tarrytown Shopping Center. Kelso regularly uses his bully-pulpit against the woman he calls the "Meat Lady," a committed member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who put her money where her mouth is and will not take tenants who sell animal-derived products (because God forbid that someone in the Lone Star State stand up for their principles.)

However, in a rare event, Kelso is not the Statesman's best example of a crabby old man, sitting on the porch, shaking his fist at modernity. Instead, that award goes to W. Gardner Selby, who warns you can't trust those dang ol' new-fangled blogs, I tell you whut. In a pop at Texas Monthly for breaking stories on its blog, political consultant Selby lays into bloggers - you know, upstart quasi-journalists with no experience (like the Monthly's own award-winning veteran Lege correspondent Paul Burka).

Yeah, these bloggers may break stories, Selby moans, but they can't get into Gov. Rick Perry's press conferences, and he won't put a Web cam in there. Apparently, "by not having a Web camera, Perry effectively trusts ye olde newspapers (and a clutch of radio and TV reporters) to relay and remember what he says."
So here's a few quick questions for Selby:
1) Is he presuming that no blogger has a press pass?
2) Does he think that Perry can hold out against having to accept new media into the building forever?
3) Why doesn't he get upset when Perry spokesman Robert Black says he prefers to keep Web media and a Web cam out because it allows the governor to "control the message and distribution of the message," i.e., treat "old media" like lapdogs and courtiers?
4) Or is Selby just really proud of his organ being an unquestioning amplifier for the Governor's Mansion?


Editor's note: This post has been modified since its original posting.