The most remarkable thing about this is how many different people surrounding Indiana Gov. Mike Pence had to think this was a good idea, with apparently not a one of them pointing out that the phrase "state-run news outlet" has a rotten and terrible history and that no freedom-loving ambitious Republican type ought to be stapling themselves to it and parading around
like they've just invented toast.
Gov. Mike Pence is starting a state-run taxpayer-funded news outlet that will make pre-written news stories available to Indiana media, as well as sometimes break news about his administration, according to documents obtained by The Indianapolis Star.
Hey, American journalists, are you tired of having to
write about what's going on in Indiana under the leadership of Gov. Mike Pence? Good news, then: the Mike Pence administration will do it for you. You just let us worry about what's going on in the statehouse—it is all very complicated and boring and if something is important we'll be sure to write it up with, you know, the right "take" and all that news stuff.
Pence is planning in late February to launch "Just IN," a website and news outlet that will feature stories and news releases written by state press secretaries and is being overseen by a former Indianapolis Star reporter, Bill McCleery.
What could go wrong?
"At times, Just IN will break news — publishing information ahead of any other news outlet. Strategies for determining how and when to give priority to such 'exclusive' coverage remain under discussion," according to a question-and-answer sheet distributed last week to communications directors for state agencies.
Hmm, I'm going to guess "exclusive coverage" will consist of "anything we can get away with," and "priority" will be determined by "how badly the governors office feels they need to put their own preemptive spin on this story before some actual reporter writes it up for the common rabble." But that might be overselling it; perhaps it is not an overt effort by the Pence administration to control the flow of information in his state but instead merely a flagrant waste of taxpayer resources for a do-nothing website that replicates existing news sources and that nobody in Indiana seems to have been asking for. Or perhaps this is one of those things that state governors do experimentally, just to see whether they can get away with it.
Pence is a commonly suggested candidate for president, you know. If he tosses his hat in the ring, I wonder if his personal state news outlet will be the one to break the news.