And I am adding my voice to Pete Wann at Cowtown Chronicles, defending local bloggers, the quality of their thinking, and value of their opinions. This was originally a comment submitted to the Fort Worth Real Estate blog, but as Pete said in his post, the “comment” option on the blog isn’t working. So, like him, I am posting my comment on my own blog, with link to the original entry. 

My comment:

“I can’t believe you called FW Weekly “Trash.” It is not a conventional daily newspaper. But it serves its purpose and while I don’t usually read it I do think it has some good journalism that other papers, tied to advertising dollars from stuff like Real Estate, can’t publish because they can’t afford to offend their advertisers. 

As for West and Clear, their credibility with me is very high, and when you bash them, it makes me wonder … what have they done to bother you? They are simply airing their anti-gas drilling opinions. Chesapeake has had tremendous sway over local media and it was only through reading West and Clear and Fort Worth Can Do blogs that I found out anyone didn’t like the drilling. I think these blogs are on the vanguard of a resurgence of the freer press, and I commend their work. ”

The text of the  Fort Worth Real Estate Blog post used to be below. However, they have since amended their post and appologized in general, so I’m taking it down as a gesture of goodwill. Maybe there is cooperation and accountability in the blogosphere! Their amended post is here.