Blog Snark Gets Paul Burka the Boot

Word today is that Texas Monthly has withdrawn from a gubernatorial debate hosted by Dallas public TV station KERA after it wanted the magazine to replace journalist Paul Burka due to “snarky” blog posts.

No, not a joke.

Kay Bailey Hutchison’s staff wanted Burka bounced for blog remarks about her moribund campaign; a lagging Hutchison will be debating Gov. Rick Perry shortly. KERA compiled, and told the Monthly it could have another panelist to participate in the debate, just not Burka.

Credit the magazine for refusing, backing up its reporter and dropping out of the debate instead.

In his blog post today, Burka wrote briefly on his ban from the debates. “I am a writer, and I have opinions, but I do not regard myself as an ‘opinion writer.’ I am primarily a reporter who writes magazine articles for Texas Monthly.,” Burka said. “Those articles contain opinions. Opinions are not a synonym for ‘biases’… As a blogger, I have opinions.”

The Hutchison campaign cited Burka’s opinions on things like her campaign ad as particularly offensive.“If she gets in a TV debate with Perry on Texas issues, she’d better have EMS on hand because she is going to get slaughtered… If this is the best she can do, she ought to quit the race,” Burka wrote.

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