News columnists today - the good and the not so good

DallasBlog.com | Tom Pauken:

“Steve Blow continues to have little or nothing to say in his regular mutterings in the Metropolitan section in the News. ... I am not sure that Steve Blow gets it. Most of the criticism of his columns in the News that I have seen here at DallasBlog and elsewhere comes from people who don’t think his ‘stuff’ is very good.”

Ed Cognoski responds:

Mr Pauken misrepresents Mr Blow. Mr Blow wasn't commenting on the criticism of his "stuff" by Dallas Blog bloggers. He was commenting on accusations of him being anti-God, anti-American, a Jew, a Gypsy. Mr Blow says he welcomes thoughtful, informed criticism, just not "knee-jerk media bashing." Mr Pauken dismisses criticism of such bigotry as mere "whining."

You don't have to take Mr Blow's word that mainstream media is the whipping boy of both political extremes. Read the letters to the editor of the DMN. Most days, they pair letters between one accusing the DMN of being a tool of the right and another accusing the DMN of being a tool of the left, both letters prompted by the same news article or editorial. It would be amusing if it weren't the norm for political discourse in this country.

But rather than respond to Mr Blow's argument itself, Mr Pauken criticizes Mr Blow's "stuff", whatever that means. Mr Pauken is worth reading when he writes about politics, but when he ventures into journalistic criticism, I'm afraid he has little or nothing to say himself.