** Christy Hoppe, Austin bureau chief for the Dallas Morning News, says the site falls short as a complete news operation.

"They might do some interesting database stuff...but they don't report," Hoppe wrote in an e-mail. "They never seem to call anyone to ask, 'What's this about?'... In my day, we called it, 'Never letting facts get in the way of a good story.' " **

Two counterpoints:

1) Has Texas Watchdog EVER claimed to be "a complete news organization." The Dallas Morning News does (and with Belo's mismanagement, falls far short these days I would add), but I have never seen that claim from anyone at TW.

2) Texas Watchdog doesn't report or call sources? Umm, has Christy Hoppe ever actually READ the reporting on the site? Because that comment suggests otherwise.

She makes it sound as if "never letting the facts get in the way of the story" is something she did in the past -- but it seems to be something she's practicing today, assuming these quotes were accurate.

And frankly, that ill-informed, condescending, dismissive old-media attitude about anything new and different is part of the problem. MSM is dying, for better or worse. I sure as hell hope we see more experiments like Texas Watchdog. Otherwise, what is going to take the place of what MSM sometimes did, back in the day?