Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Pence's Putin Moment

It surprised this Indianapolis Observer how quickly Gov. Pence walked back his decision to set up a government owned and operated news source, JustIN, as content supplier for Hoosier media. The ridicule from commentators across the country continues to roll in, however.

It's really sad that the poor excuses for journalists we have left in the state no longer perform their watchdog function. (Can anyone imagine what Harrison Ullman would have done with this ham-handed attempt to manage the news?)

One uncharitable thought: Pence leaked the JustIN trial balloon as cover for his backtrack on expanding Medicaid for low-income Hoosiers. He wanted to redirect conservative Republican gaze from his healthcare coverage decision.

Nothing to see here. Move along, folks.

1 comment:

Paul K. Ogden said...

He probably didn't think his "Just In" proposal wasn't any big deal, which it wasn't. But his people should have been aware of how people might not understand the proposal, especially people unfamiliar with the work done by government press secretaries, public information officers, and communication directors.