People are so mad at the governor of Indiana

If you really think this is a key point in the discussion, there's no use in continuing it.

 

There have been several posters on this thread make the point that Mike Pence would be usurping the media's role. Someone even argued that he would be harming the Indianapolis Star as a business by not utilizing it as his middle man.

 

No. The argument is that he's circumventing the media's role in hopes that his taxpayer-funded propaganda gains enough credibility with the public that legacy media is rendered irrelevant.

 

"News organizations are free to do, say and operate on their own terms, but that doesn’t mean that taxpayers should be forced to fund them." -- Eric Cantor.

Now, to the people who say Pence is just creating a "clearinghouse for press releases," I say, tough shit. Then he shouldn't have used the words "news service." If people want to put their heads in the sand and believe his post-announcement spin, knock yourselves out.

 

So?

 

So, just because your boy is legally in the clear doesn't mean what he's doing is a good idea and people have to get on board with it.

 

My boy.

LOL.

 

Another undiscussed part of this is the social media factor.

No one is sharing a press release with their friends on Facebook. But, if properly written, and formatted, soccer moms all across Indiana will be sharing the "news" coming out of Gov. Pence's office with their friends. That's important for the governor's office, and it's part of why this does make sense.

And, it's silly to get all worked up about the titles given out to the folks running it, or the verbiage used to describe the initiative. It's no different than how any corporation would use words to create a mindset (Think Gannett, and all the silly titles they've been handing out). This is so the folks who are working on the project remember who their audience is. (I guess they could put a cardboard cutout of a soccer mom in the office instead.)

 

There seems to be a quite simple solution to making sure that a "news service" run by the state does not get a foothold: Don't fucking run stories produced by the state's "news service."

 

Gannett's mindset in creating those silly titles is to lay off older, more costly workers.

And it's not silly to get worked up about it. Essentially, he's lying to the public by claiming that his office is doing journalism. It's not. It's public relations.

Now, it may be good for him to expand the PR wing of his office. He could even term it as "making things easier for our constituents to follow the work we are doing," or something like that, and very few would bat an eye. But instead, he's trying to fool the public. That's where the outrage comes in.

 

I can't believe y'all have never received a mailed "newsletter" from your Congressperson.

 

But they're going to give EXCLUSIVES to their own "reporters"!!!