Muncie, Indiana NEWS – It’s not every day we get to look upon our friends at Gannett News media to publish a piece which helps prove our point, but today was one of those days. Governor Mike Pence’s communication’s office let slip that they are starting a state-run news service, funded by taxpayers, called “JustIN”. It didn’t take long for Gannett’s reporters to share their opinions about the idea allowing it to spread over Twitter and Facebook.
Here is Matt Tully’s promotional Tweet about his article:
Mike Pence’s horrible idea http://t.co/TqkqUNl8xj via @indystar
— Matthew Tully (@matthewltully) January 27, 2015
It was leaked to Tom LoBianco, another government reporter at Gannett. Obviously, Matt was upset about the news, so he hammered Pence pretty good for putting forth such a fascist concept. But hey, has Matt read the Indy Star lately, or who gets coverage on their editorial pages? Or, has he read the mess printed in Richmond and Muncie by Gannett owned journalistic properties?
All I could think was, “How could Pence’s news service be much worse?”
Matt summed up his article by writing, “There are many questions. But as I wrote this column I struggled with one question more than any other: Was I more offended as a journalist, as an American or as a taxpaying Hoosier. The answer was all of the above.”
Of course I’m shaking my head over yet another self-aggrandizing venture of our megalomaniac governor, but I’m enjoying the journalists owned by Wall Street throwing around concepts like, “When creating our government, our Founders put freedom of the press into the Constitution. Right there in the First Amendment.”
That sounds more like Muncie Voice. Let’s be certain about one thing – the IndyStar in Indianapolis and TheStarPress in Muncie, are far from a “free and independent press” outlined by the framers of our constitution.
At least Vladimir Putin is honest about Russia Today being controlled by the government. The British Broadcasting Center (BBC) is much less obvious. They are owned by the government, so they are not free to criticize the government. Our press is owned by the same capitalists who own our government, so 90% of our press isn’t free either. In fact, we don’t even rank in the Top 10 for press freedom.
As our recent article explains, when your company is owned by capitalists on Wall Street, you’re not exactly “free” to write what you’d like. We just posted an article on Facebook about Condi Rice and how she told the New York Times they couldn’t run a story on Operation Merlin. If our government stymies free press, what do you think corporate executives do at Gannett? Do you think they print the truth about what is happening in Indiana, or in the United States. Even outside America, we get a pro-American, pro-capitalism, biased viewpoint.
Back to the JustIN story – other journalists at IndyStar were upset as well:
 Every professional journalist in Indiana should join me in denouncing Gov. Pence’s state-run “news service.” #StateRunMedia — John Russell (@JohnRussell99) January 27, 2015
We understand Pence and his staff took a justifiable beating today. Pence even called Tully to explain himself about “JustIN”:
Driving through Broad Ripple when the governor calls: “I’ll see to it” that #JustIN “is just a clearinghouse” of news releases. — Matthew Tully (@matthewltully) January 27, 2015
So, our governor wants to help out small media outlets like Muncie Voice by providing information about what’s going on in Indiana. As long as it’s based on facts, we appreciate the help and will gladly share with readers. If it’s more public relations stunts to gain Pence media attention, no thanks. That’s Gannett’s role in this state.
Here’s Governor Mike Pence stamping his seal of approval on our “free and independent press” in this country. We truly wonder if he understands what a “free and independent press” means as outlined by the constitution and laid out perfectly in adopted principles of journalism. When you consider he is the poster child at Fox News for spreading right-wing propaganda, we think he says the words, but has no idea what they really mean.
From @GovPenceIN: “I want to make clear my strong affection for a free and independent press.” — Matthew Tully (@matthewltully) January 27, 2015
