I few weeks ago, I predicted that the Carpenter Media Group would let the I-am-a-Christian fundamentalist managing editor turn the Victoria Advocate into a right-wing Christian propaganda sheet. And, that the news content would be fluff and non-controversial content. I looks like that’s exactly what has happened.
The weekend edition has Mark Ward’s story about Jesus’ occupation — note, please the incorrect form of possesive for words ending is “s.” The lovely photo accompanying the column depicts Jesus as clearly a white man. Is that surprising? I guess not given the fundy-Christian view that white people are the only ones who count. Next we have Doug Stringer’s long-long story on the Holy Spirit. Then we have two local pastors providing us with musings in their regular columns: Andrew Schroer and Michael Graff of the Graff family’s business also known as Faith Family Church.
I want to remind y’all that the managing editor touted his membership Faith Family Church right out of the box last year. And, it’s the home of one of Michael Cloud, our congressman and the Freedom Caucus puppet who takes his orders from the oligarch machine. Here’s what’s important to understand now. CMG, based in Tuscaloosa, Ala., tipped its hand as Trumpers with the betrayal of journalistic ethics, standards and common courtesy by selling out to a right-wing, two-bit Alaska state legislator. I covered this in my Oct. 3 blog post, but the legislator’s problem was that its coverage of a memorial for the murdered Charlie Kirk wasn’t fawning enough. You see, the Alaska reporter accurately described Kirk as a “Christian Nationalist icon.” When CMG pulled the story, rewrote it without talking to the reporter and editors and then republished it, the ethical and brave journalists resigned in protest.
As for the other content, I’ll use this past Friday’s story on the League of Women Voters to illustrate how the Advocate has given up any pretense of newswriting or evidence that an editor processes copy before publication. Or, maybe the editor did look at the copy but missed some basic issues. One example is the caption on the photograph with Friday’s story about the League of Women Voters guide. Here it is, “ Glenda Nickle and Sande Hafer, a member of the Victoria League of Women Voters, hand out voter guides at Texas A&M-Victoria on Oct. 8, 2025. (Photo courtesy of Glenda Nickle).” Can you see the mistake? Right, it’s the use of the singular noun when referring to two people. I don’t know who wrote the cutline (that’s journo-speak for a photo’s caption), but an editor should have caught it.
In the same story, the first reference to the League of Women Voters is fine — no quibble with the high school-level tone. The second and third references are correctly abbreviated while the reference to Ms. Nickle as president fully spells the organization’s name. Not only is the inconsistency but it’s also not writing tightly. I am not going to deconstruct the whole article, but I’ll point out that using The Associated Press style isn’t evident and I see no indication that the Advocate’s “style” is superior.
Finally, printing news releases verbatim and giving the author the byline is beyond the pale. Truly. The confirmation of Christian Hardigree as the new president for Texas A&M-Victoria is news, but the byline is Chris Bryan, vice chancellor of marketing and communications. Will the Advocate’s illustrious managing editor assign a reporter to interview Ms. Hardigree after she has settled in? Will the Advocate let other candidates post their announcements with bylines?
We no longer have a newspaper in Victoria. We have a Christian-nationalist supporting propaganda rag and the community is all the poorer for it.
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