In 2005, the Russian ?government felt a need to ?improve Mother Russia’s ?image on the outskirts of its borders.
It decided to do so by ?establishing public relations that would go on to become a Russia
Today, the cable and ?satellite news channel funded by the Russian federal budget. The channel offers news, documentaries, talk shows and everything else you’d expect of a news channel — all multilingual and specifically targeted to audiences outside of Russia.
There’s just one thing. It’s also one of the best-funded propaganda machines and a quasi-official mouthpiece of the Russian government that masquerades as real news.
So with that in mind, it looks like Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Russian President Vladimir Putin might have a lot more in common than we thought.
According to documents obtained from Pence, he has approved a plan to start working on a state-run media outlet supported by taxpayer money. The news outlet would provide stories about Indiana and the occasional breaking news about Pence and his administration.
The name? “Just IN,” of course. And the website/“news outlet” will be headed by former Star ?reporter Bill McCleery.
Documents obtained by the Star suggest the government-run news outlet will create its own stories in ?addition to being an ?aggregator for state press secretaries to post their totally objective ?information about what the Pence administration is doing.
The site will also “break news” and have exclusive coverage stories relating to Indiana. Perhaps shadiest of all, the total cost of Pence’s new project to taxpayers is unclear, though the Star estimates it could cost almost $100,000. Pence & Co. have been mum about its total cost.
It’s interesting to hear conservatives, many like Pence himself, decry wasteful spending and the evils of big government on the floor of the Statehouse only to turn around and see them push the very things they rail against.
I guess it must not be wasteful spending or big ?government if and when the man that’s pushing for a state-run news agency wants to run for president and can use it as an arm to provide more #AwesomeContent from the people who brought you #HonestToGoodnessIndiana as a tourism slogan.
Today, press releases — tomorrow, a list of “25 Reasons Mike Pence is ?Totally Qualified to Run for ?President” featuring Taylor Swift GIFs, à la John Boehner.
It would be funny how desperate Pence is to be in the running for the 2016 ?presidential election if what he’s doing wasn’t so ?insidious.
Don’t expect to see too many unflattering stories about the governor on his shiny new press shop — like how he’s trying to outflank Democratic Superintendent Glenda Ritz.
The fact that we’ll be bankrolling a state propaganda machine — err, news outlet — that will compete with real media institutions to influence what we read about Pence is pretty Orwellian.
It’s brazenly Putinesque. And it is absolutely absurd.
edsalas@indiana.edu
