Fifty Years of the Texas Observer

Rating:
Summary: Yes Virginia, there is civilization in Texas.
Review: The best progressive writing and independent journalism in the Great Lone Star State. Like The Nation, the TO is beholden to none of the corporate interests that taint most of the corporate news.

Remember what journalism used to, and should, be.

Rating:
Summary: Texan and Progressive...not a contradiction in terms
Review: The Texas Observer has a well-deserved reputation for asking the tough questions which our state government (still famous for a 'good-old boy' reputation) wishes would just be quiet instead.

As an investigative journalist myself, I always have looked to the Observer for inspiration and comfort. Their own perserverance reminds me that our job is often thankless, but a passion for justice is one of a journalist's most effective tools.

For all of my frustration with the current status of Texas/National politics, these pages remind me times were once much worse in Texas. When segregation was still considered matter of fact, the Observer pushed ahead with the 'radical' idea that all people deserved human rights.

Finally, the Observer produced such now-nationally recognized figures as Jim Hightower and Molly Ivins. Ivins continues to cheer me up today with her right-on commentary that George W. Bush is a danger to the world, and not all Texans approve of him (or had even wanted him involved with any kind of government).