JEFFERSONVILLE — Three days after internal documents revealed plans to establish a state-run news website, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence issued a memorandum to all state agency heads announcing the development of the website has been terminated.
“I became aware earlier this week of an internal document that really was poorly worded and created the wrong impression about the purpose of that website,” Pence said. “After careful consideration, we announced today that we were terminating plans to move forward with the JustIN website.”
The Indianapolis Star broke news of the plan to launch a state-run news service Monday after obtaining documents that said state press secretaries would be writing “breaking” stories for the site to compete with independent media outlets. Indiana and national media alike slammed the plan as an end-run around the press.
On Wednesday morning, in a testy exchange with Statehouse reporters, Pence’s communications staff took credit for coming up with the news service idea, but described it as half-baked and not in its final stages when the Star published the internal documents detailing how the news service would work.
Pence communications director Christy Denault said the original intent of the news service was to provide a better portal for the state’s press releases, to assist the public and the press. She said the language in the internal documents was never meant to imply that the state would be running its own competitive news outlet.
Pence had previously stated that the media’s interpretation of the internal memo was a “miscommunication or misinterpretation” of plans for JustIN.
Pence seemed to back away from those comments Thursday. Speaking in Jeffersonville, he expressed disappointment with the way JustIN had been presented in the internal documents, and promised to maintain a commitment to “greater transparency.”
“Words like ‘managing editor’ or ‘editorial board’ have no place in state government,” Pence said.
STATEHOUSE REACTION
Plans for JustIN were met with derision by Democrat and Republican lawmakers in Indianapolis. The news of JustIN’s demise gave officials another chance to criticize it.
“Truth be told, this idea should have been put to rest when it was still in the planning stages,” said House Minority Leader Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City. “Those who thought it was a good idea should have spent more time thinking about the implications here and cast it aside.”
Earlier Thursday, Pelath led an unsuccessful attempt on the House floor to defund the JustIN news service via an amendment onto an unrelated bill. House rules stopped the amendment from moving forward. Internal documents pegged the cost at $100,000.
Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma (Indianapolis), a sharp critic of the state-run news site, said he was sympathetic to Pelath’s efforts. Bosma had previously likened the JustIN site to Pravda, the Russian state-run news agency. Bosma joked Thursday that he could “put away” his Russian language handbook.
The Hoosier State Press Association welcomed Pence’s decision to end development of JustIN.
“According to administration internal memos describing JustIN, it would ‘function as a news outlet in its own right for thousands of Hoosiers — transparent in functioning as a voice of the State of Indiana’s executive branch,’” stated an HSPA release. “Whether intended or not, this implies a state effort to develop its own news audience, a position that would go beyond supplying press releases and would be unacceptable.”
OTHER REACTION
Word of the idea had prompted biting comments from news outlets around the nation. A headline on the Atlantic Monthly website referred to the plan as “Pravda on the Plains: Indiana’s New Propaganda Machine.”
A parody Twitter account, @Just_In_News, gained more than 1,800 followers in two days.
“Prepping our first question for today’s Healthy Indiana Plan press conference,” read one tweet. “How about: ‘Gov. Pence, you look fantastic! Care to comment?’”
The Society of Professional Journalists issued a statement Tuesday critical of the plan for the JustIn website.
“One must wonder if a government-run publication, which is paid for by taxpayers, could ever be more than a marketing service for those who control the purse strings,” it read.
WHAT NOW?
Before killing it, Pence had said JustIN was meant to become “a one-stop website for the convenience of the press and the public.” He said Thursday that another website, in.gov/core/news_events.html, will aggregate press releases and meeting notifications from every agency of the executive branch.
He said all state agency heads will be directed to work with the Office of Information of Technology to ensure that the documents will be publicly displayed in manner that’s “automated” and “unfiltered.”
At present, about 50 of the state’s 90 agencies send press materials to that website, Pence said in the memo.