Further to my post, this morning, I want to add a stick to the flame of the idea that a state doesn’t get to Rhode Island’s current condition unless every institution that’s supposed to be a corrective to the corrupting power of government is perverted.

It must be stated upfront that there are some really excellent journalists at the Providence Journal.  Considering the paper institutionally, however, I have to agree with Andrew Kadak of Barrington, in a letter published in today’s paper:

I hope that when the paper looks for a new owner, it will find one that really wants to expose corruption and mismanagement, and not be beholden to special interests. As an “outspoken voice,” the paper has been very quiet, and if Rhode Island is ever going to change, it needs a newspaper that cares about and understands its mission.

PolitiFact is a helpful symbol of the problem, but it’s a organization-wide issue.  The things that get covered, or don’t get covered; how deeply an issue is inspected, and in what direction; who gets the benefit of the doubt, or doesn’t. Just look at today’s paper.

Our incompetent president, whose national approval rating is rightly plummeting, gets a boosting tie to Nelson Mandela on the front page.  By contrast, it is news that left-wing, pro-abortion groups are “criticizing” Providence Bishop Thomas Tobin for making the point that Mandela supported abortion.  It’s news that Angel Taveras might have made a math error regarding a pre-K proposal, but it’s not news that studies are finding such programs to be of dubious benefit in the first place.

This could be a daily exercise.  As an organization, the Providence Journal has picked a side, and it’s the side that’s wreaking havoc on our communities, our state, and our nation.