People are so mad at the governor of Indiana

They were directly available to the public before. So, Pence spent $100K on an "editorial staff" and a new website solely to maintain the status quo?

 

Why is Mike Pence is obligated to give the Indianapolis Star help maintaining its credibility with the public?

 

#Notallgovernment.

 

The "precedent" was set several years ago. Sites like this are already operating all over the country. Every government in every state and municipality tries to control the message and always has. As long as they don't stop the media from reporting on the government, there is no problem.

 

I'll go a step further. As long as the don't violate statutory public records laws, impose prior restraint, or toss reporters in jail for things they've written, there is no problem.

Mike Pence isn't obligated to hold another press conference, do another one-on-one, or issue another press release for as long as he's governor.

 

No, he wants to get more content out there. That isn't a problem, either.

 

Oh, and I don't get how this news service interferes with the media, or obfuscates any more than any government entity already obfuscates (that is a great word, by the way).

 

Thats a great way to serve and earn the respect one's constituents.

Transparency is a cornerstone of democracy. The legacy media not having the trust or the resources to ensure that anymore Is a problem. To which this is not a solution.

 

You are both correct. The governor does not have to talk to the media. And that would not serve his constituents.

Know what would happen if he didn't? He wouldn't get re-elected.

The lack of trust in the media and the media's lack of resources, however, have nothing at all to do with this issue nor with any "news service" started by the state government.

 

Sure it does. I've heard this line of argument several times already: "All the paper does is run the press release verbatim anyway. Might as well take out the middle man."

 

You see this in London as well. A handful of boroughs have been publishing weekly "newspapers" (or things that look like newspapers well enough supposedly to fool people) for the last few years. Commercial newspapers have raised a stink about this, saying that they were taking away readers and more important, advertising.

If (...and only if...) Indiana is promoting a "news service" that takes customers away from private media outlets, how is this not government intrusion in the free market? I'm not talking about a website that provides press releases, information about highway closures or whatever, basic information that every citizen could or should need. I'm talking about a "news outlet in its own right."

 

Is it any moreso than public schools, though?