I Guess Fox 59 Works for Mitch Roob Now

When the "paper of record" has become a shell of it's former self, the public has to turn to other forms of media to find out what's going on with our tax dollars. And one of the media outlets that have been doing quality reporting for the entire year is Fox 59. With Russ McQuaid, Fox 59 was the outlet that broke the various scandals that involved Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi. McQuaid has also been on top of Doctor Director Frank Straub and his war of words against the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

So it's sad to read that Fox 59 has published this news story touting the job numbers being claimed by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. IEDC has been under investigation all year by WTHR's Bob Segall in his award winning report "Reality Check: Where Are the Jobs?". Segall has learned that getting any real answers from Governor Mitch Daniels and Roob is like pulling teeth. At one point in the story, Daniels walks out of the room as Segall questions him. And when Roob finally does give Segall documents, they're contained in dozens of binders that seem to have little rhyme or reason, and often have a lot of redacted information. Roob claims that exact job numbers and salary information is confidential, and that it gives employers an edge on their competition. But each of our neighboring states, including Illinois, makes salary information and job numbers and titles public information, some even putting it on their state web site.

Shame on Fox 59. I honestly expected better.