Dallas Observer does hit job on wind farm

The Dallas Observer runs a lot of good stuff.

But occasionally, it has a real clunker. That includes, in an ongoing saga, Jim Schutze anointing himself the white knight of Amber Guyger’s PR team or something.

More seriously than that?

A wind farm already exists in Cooke County and the Observer
is either ignorant of this and didn't try to find out or else this
was part of a hit-job mentality.

For whatever reason, the Observer sent an “editorial fellow” who SHOULD know better, and whom I therefore suspect of doing a hit job, up to cover community opposition to a wind farm out in Era, in Cooke County, northwest of Denton.

First, Meredith Lawrence has an M.A. in journalmamism from Columbia School of Journalism. Hence my all-caps “SHOULD” know better.

As for the not actually, or maybe a hit job?

This was a HUGE, one-sided hack job by Lawrence. I don't know if it was deliberate on her part or she just got hugely played.

Ditto for the Observer management.

It didn't even have the obvious question (if one knows the area) of asking foes how many of them have natural gas leases. (Many do; Cooke County is in the northern tip of the Barnett Shale.) That is itself an important factor. Natural gas prices are pretty much in the terlet right now; a new wind farm would only add to that. It would also reduce demand for future drilling.

Related to that? Two pieces of information, one easily already available and one just updated.

The already available? In three years, according to Wiki, wind electricity will be cheaper than every form of natural gas electricity except an advanced version of combined cycle power plants. It's already cheaper than all non-combined cycle gas power plants.

Second? And reflecting what I said about gas prices being in the terlet otherwise? Oct. 2, Comptroller Glenn Hegar reported natural gas production taxes for September were down 34. 5 percent from a year ago. Oops.

It also repeated some either unsubstantiated, or at best, not rigorously tested, claims about wind turbines.

Wind turbines aren't perfect, no. That said, many residents in Cooke County who have turbines on their property on a wind farm ALREADY IN PLACE (ALSO not mentioned in your story) have no real problems with either lights or noise.

Nor, in referencing the conflict of interest lawsuit, did Lawrence try to get even a pro-forma comment from county officials or try to get any background on the issue from local media.

Finally, the wind farm is "Wildcat," not "Wild Cat."

IMO, the Observer needs a folo story for some credibility.

That's especially since Era is WAY out in the boonies from Dallas, and not even on the Dallas side of the Metromess. (In other words, if there WERE a real issue, this would be more the territory of the Fort Worth Weekly, not the Observer.) And, as noted, Lawrence made no effort to look at the other side, or sides, of the issue.

Because of that, I have no idea why this piece was assigned in the first place other than to be a hit job. And, if Lawrence as an editorial fellow does such things on her own, without assignment, then Observer management needs to rethink such things.

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They've been contacted, both Lawrence and management. They've not responded.

And, if an MA from a major J-school leads to stuff like this? It probably is an indicator that journalism degrees and credentialism in the journalism world are overrated.

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In what appears more her speed, the Observer next had "editorial fellow" (by her background, sounds like "glorified intern") Lawrence do a hard-hitting piece on Texas raising the tobacco age to 21. She's halfway redeemed herself with a decent job on how environmentally friendly or not grass-fed beef is, but it's still a "huh" piece for an urban alt-weekly. (I googled after initially blogging; the amount of stuff she did for Oregon Public Broadcasting, while more than "none," was "slim" indeed.) And, Observer, if you think this is clickbait? I have Ghostery and you should stop living by clicks anyway.

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And, as for Observer management? Era, Texas, on the Fort Worth side of the Metromess extended, but nowhere close to being in either half of the Metromess, can get a news story. BUT, Oktoberfests in North Texas can't include Muenster's?