Governor Justice’s speech and the politicizing of public broadcasting
From the Charleston Gazette-Mail’s coverage of last night’s speech by WV Governor Jim Justice:
Gov. Justice on Thursday used his State of the State address as a victory lap for economic development and tourism in West Virginia, saying the state had avoided a lot of the partisan bickering that’s taking place in Washington.
— Charleston Gazette-Mail (@wvgazettemail) January 28, 2022
Then came Babydog. https://t.co/1puLOjy5XZ
Lots of reactions to the speech. I thought this was the best:
Top 10 rejected terms for describing Jim Justice speeches
— Snark Tank, Arbitrary American (@trueglib) January 28, 2022
10. Eloquent
9. Stemwinder
8. Insight laden
7. Focused
6. Significant
5. Concise
4. Inspirational
3. Literary
2. Kennedy-esque
1. Dog butt free
Featuring Republican favorites: Has WV Public Broadcasting become the Ogden of the airwaves?
As of 1:00 PM today, there has been no coverage of Justice’s speech on West Virginia Public Broadcasting News’ website or Twitter feed. Here is the current top story on its website:
Punk Rockers, Urban Farmers And More - How Appalachians Are Finding Creative Solutions To Big Problems
The second story is about Riley Moore. Here’s the Twitter link:
Senate Passes Bill Targeting Banks That Shun Fossil Fuels https://t.co/pmRVa9WqIT
— WVPB News (@wvpublicnews) January 27, 2022
Moore’s family has nothing to do with the story. Why are they in the Twitter feed and also at the top of the article? This looks a lot like a photo that would be used in campaign literature rather than in a news report. Is Moore running for something?
And so we have no coverage of Justice's speech or his interaction with Babydog. However, WVPB does feature a Riley Moore story. Governor Justice politicized public broadcasting last fall; it would appear that it’s beginning to show dividends.
Note
As I finished this and checked my links, I noticed that WVPB at 1:30 put-up their morning news report which does mention Justice's speech. The attendant article includes two sentences about the speech:
On this West Virginia Morning, Gov. Jim Justice delivered his 2022 State of the State address Thursday night. The governor was forced to postpone his address earlier this month after testing positive for COVID-19.
