Governor Scraps Development Of JustIN State-Run News Website

Thursday, January 29, 2015 at 6:28 AM

By Mike Perleberg

(Indianapolis, Ind.) - The backlash against a state-run news website this week has been JustIN-credible. Now, Indiana Governor Mike Pence is deciding to pull the plug on the JustIN website. He made the announcement Thursday afternoon in a memo sent to the state government’s agency heads. “However well intentioned, after thorough review of the preliminary planning and careful consideration of the concerns expressed, I am writing to inform you that I have made a decision to terminate development of the JustIN website immediately,” Pence wrote. Indiana Democrat Party Chairman John Zody criticized Pence’s decision to terminate the state-run news agency only after independent media first discovered it. “Following this action by the media, and Indiana House Democrats’ push to defund the agency, Hoosiers on both sides of the aisle are applauding the governor’s move,” Zody said in a statement. “However, questions still remain about how the taxpayer dollars to create the agency will be used, and it is more important than ever for all of us to remain vigilant in keeping an eye on what happens at the GOP-led Statehouse. This week’s actions by Governor Pence show us that his ambition and desire to tell us what we should believe overrides the transparency and trust we should expect from our governor. Flashy websites can’t cover-up bad governing.” News of the JustIN site was first broken by the Indianapolis Star on Monday, with the newspaper having obtained a leaked a governor’s office memo about development of the website. The website was planned for a February debut. Journalists, critics of the governor, even some who support him were immediately suspicious of the site referred to in the memo as a “news source”. Pence, who claimed to be only “tangentially” aware of the site’s development, spoke about it Tuesday. He claimed the JustIN website is meant to serve as a resource and not a news source. He called it a one-stop-shop for press releases from his office, the lieutenant governor and the agencies they lead. He called the characterization of the website as a news agency an “understandable misunderstanding.” Pence's communications team continued to deal with fallout surrounding the new public relations website on Wednesday during a press conference, part of which was off the record, and the rest of which was on record. That same day, statehouse Democrats filed legislation to defund the website. In announcing the scrapping of JustIN on Thursday, Pence said that all state news releases will continue to be distributed via the current public calendar website at www.in.gov/core/news_events.html. Pence wrote that only about 50 of the state’s 90 executive branch agencies and commissions post press releases on that site. “This results in the press and the public having to visit multiple sources to stay informed about state activities,” Pence said. The governor says he has instructed the Office of Information technology to update the existing calendar website. RELATED STORIES: Governor’s JustIN News Site Brings Criticism, Clarification Pence Planning Introduction Of State-Run News Service