Former KXAS Anchor Snyder Caught Up in Sun Scandal

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Weird story in the NY Times today about Mike Snyder, longtime Dallas anchor, a debate stemming from a glare on a Dallas museum, and some online comments from a fake person…that happened to be Mike Snyder.

A condo called Museum Tower is apparently casting an imposing glare on the Nasher Sculpture Center next door, and Snyder, who retired from KXAS in 2010 and was hired to do some PR on behalf of Museum Tower, posted some very detailed comments on the topic on a Dallas Morning News website.

Snyder posted them as “Barry Schwarz ” of St. Louis and “Brandon Eley” of the Bronx.

Went one comment:“Louvers won’t work, they reflect light too, and retrofitting on a 42 story building has never been tried and the makers say they would rip off in high winds prevalent in Dallas.”So heated was the debate that the mayor of Dallas assigned a mediator to the case, but that failed to bring a resolution.The Dallas Morning News examined the Schwarz and Eley postings, says the Times, because they sounded an awful lot like the developers’ arguments. The reporters discovered that the true writer was Snyder. The newspaper posted its findings July 27, and Snyder resigned from the PR firm he founded, called Ropewalkers, a few days later.He issued the following statement:“While the comments I made contained accurate facts and data, I regret I was not always transparent in the posting of comments on news blogs by using my own name. I am sincerely sorry and apologize to those people whom I offended using a screen name.”Snyder spent 30 years at KXAS, the NBC owned station.He elaborated in an interview with the Times:“Should I have done all of them in my own name? Yes. Did I make a mistake? Absolutely. I was trying to get people to focus on the actual facts and on finding a solution - not on Mike Snyder being involved.”

Michael Malone
Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.