News News

The Advocate Magazine's Back Talk blog speculates today that the Dallas Morning News may be going private and getting rid of more of its better news people, including such top guns as editor Bob Mong and managing editor George Rodrigue, which could mean the end to one of the more entertaining journalistic feuds this city has seen in ages.

Writing for the Advocate, Jeff Siegel argues that the reason neither Mong nor Rodrigue are listed among the paper's post-spinoff leaders is because they won't be around. Siegel says jettisoning Mong and Rodrigue would be one of the many cost-cutting moves the News would make to put it in better position for a buyout.

In a parallel development, sources have told me that Robert Decherd has set his sights on the Advocate because its publisher, Rick Wamre, made the heroic decision to side with maverick City Council member Angela Hunt on the recent Trinity River Tollway referendum. According to these sources, efforts will be made to use Wamre's position to convince advertisers not to spend their money in the Advocate. If this is true, I really hope it doesn't work. If I had a business in Lakewood or Lake Highlands, I would find it far more advantageous to advertise in the Advocate than in the Morning News. As a private citizen living just outside the northern most edges of Lake Highlands, if I had to choose between the two, I would definitely subscribe to the Advocate over the Dallas Morning News.