Readers will note that today’s Providence Journal had space to inform Rhode Islanders about a comment related to same-sex marriage made by Pennsylvania’s governor.  (For those who don’t know, in most cases, Rhode Islanders would have to travel through three other states to go see a friend in Pennsylvania.)

Rhode Islanders who expand their reading lists beyond their “paper of record” will discover such stories as:

• The IRS’s (surprise, surprise) auditing a black conservative who criticized Obama
• Park rangers’ receiving the message “to make life as difficult for people as we can”
• Military chaplains’ being ordered not to give Mass, even on a volunteer basis
• The administration’s intending to close areas of open water

A media industry that truly saw itself as the guardian of the people would be all over these outrages.  One that is not all over them seems more likely to see itself as the guardian of a particular political party and a particular president.