Bill Due

Why did the DMN kill a story about political favoritism? Guess right and win!

Comments (0) By Eric Celeste Thursday, Apr 18 2002

Before you answer, you need to know two things:

1) You are so cynical, so dead to the concept of justice, that you believe nothing newsworthy occurred in the Bill Barrett-Bill Hill matter. The fact that rich people get preferential treatment is not news to you. It is in fact the way the world should be, because some day you wish to inherit great wealth and soon thereafter curry favor of powerful people in hopes of crushing your enemies.

Mark Graham

No, you can't talk to the district attorney. He's a big-time important person. Oh, you're who? I'll put you right through.

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2) A few weeks after the decision not to run the Bill Barrett-Bill Hill story is made, the Morning News prints a front-page tale headlined, "Denton DA dropped charge against donor." The story questions Denton County District Attorney Bruce Isaacks' decision not to prosecute two people accused of domestic abuse, each of whom had contributed to his campaign.

(Mmmm. Sound like any story we know?)

If you said, no, you would not write about this sordid affair but instead preferred to pen a column analyzing the Morning News' coverage of the geopolitical forces that continue to shape our world in profound, exciting ways--suh-nore--then you lose.

But if you said that the hypocritical Denton district attorney story made you decide to write about how the Morning News killed the Bill Hill story, and if you said that money will always speak loudly behind closed doors at The Dallas Morning News, and if you said you are able to write about such matters in 1,200 words or less for just about that much money a month, congratulations, you win and you start Monday.