Here’s an interesting rumor for you, from political analyst/gossipmeister George Strong:
And the hot rumor of the day is that Tim Fleck is in discussions with the local paper to join it for his Insider column. Fleck is a well respected reporter on the political scene and was the only reason the Gossips ever read the Houston Press. Unless you are interested in ads for Gentlemen Clubs there is not much else in that paper to read. Now that Tim is gone it will be interesting to see what happens to their readership.
Joining the Chron would be a huge coup for both parties, though one wonders how that might affect their imported hotshot Rick Casey. With Casey, Monday political columnist John Williams, and editorial page denizens Cragg Hines and Clay Robison already in the fold, I fear that the Chron will pass because they already have enough political writers. I sure hope I’m wrong.
Will he want to submit to more active editing, not to mention diligent fact checking (a new experience for him!)? His gossip columns are great for an alternarag or a tabloid, but I don’t see him as a good fit at a respectable newspaper. It’s certainly debatable, of course, whether the Comical qualifies as that. And who knows, if they keep hiring former Press writers (Allison Cook is there, right?), maybe they could at least turn the thing into a respectable tabloid. 🙂