What's going on here? It seems as if more former Connecticut journalists now are employed doing publicity for state government than there are journalists reporting about state government.

An unofficial list of recent transfers from journalism to government publicity in Connecticut includes:

— Samaia Hernandez, formerly with WTNH-TV8 in New Haven and WTIC-TV61 in Hartford, now at the Transportation Department.

— Christine Stuart, co-founder of CTNewsJunkie.com, now at the Department of Social Services.

— Rick Green, a former editor for the Hartford Courant, the Hearst Connecticut newspapers and WTNH, now at the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.

— Julia Bergman, formerly with the Hearst papers and The Day, now in Gov. Lamont's office.

— Kaitlyn Krasselt, formerly with the Hearst papers, now at the Consumer Protection Department.

— Brian Spyros, formerly with WTNH, now with the Connecticut Airport Authority.

— Hugh McQuaid, formerly with CTNewsJunkie, now with the state Senate Democratic caucus.

— Emma Rybacki, formerly with WTNH, also now with the Senate Democratic caucus.

— Joe Cooper, formerly with the Journal Inquirer, now with the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.

— Alaine Griffin, formerly with the Hartford Courant, now with the Division of Criminal Justice.

— Will Healey, formerly with the Journal Inquirer, now with the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

— Jodi Latina, formerly with WTNH, now with Central Connecticut State University.

— Max Reiss, the former reporter for WVIT-TV30 in New Britain who went to Gov. Lamont's office, is now at electric utility Eversource.

The incentives of state government employment are well known: high pay, gold-plated medical insurance and pensions, zillions of paid holidays, and job security. The disincentives of employment in journalism are as strong: low pay, modest benefits, long and erratic hours, and the struggle to gain the attention of an audience whose literacy and civic engagement are collapsing.

Other factors also may prompt such transfers. Especially in Connecticut, journalists are sharply inclined toward the Democratic Party, the political left, and the politically correct, and the state administration is very much that way. Such journalists also tend not to put critical questions to those of similar leanings, and it is hard to imagine such an administration giving comfortable patronage positions to journalists who frequently aggravated it with critical questions.

A career in journalism is not quite a vow of poverty. But there is far less money in pursuing the public interest than in deflecting or subverting it.

Cardona gets a pass

Connecticut's representative in President Biden's cabinet, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, formerly Meriden's school superintendent and briefly state education commissioner, is among those enjoying exemption from critical journalism back home.

During the president's State of the Union address this month Cardona was the "designated survivor," the one person in the line of presidential succession assigned to stay away from the Capitol. Thanks to deficient journalism, he'll likely be a political survivor back in Connecticut too.

For outside Connecticut, Cardona's Education Department is a national scandal for its botching of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, used by tens of thousands of aspiring college students.

Three years ago the department was directed by Congress to make the new application more accessible and easier to use. But the Washington Post reported the other day: "The financial aid form debuted in December 2023, more than a year later than promised. It contains technical errors that make it impossible for some families to complete the application. Submissions are piling up at the Education Department, where officials are behind in processing applications, preventing colleges from issuing financial aid awards. A federal watchdog has launched two investigations and lawmakers are furious.”

Though the department's incompetence has upended tens of thousands of college applications, many in Connecticut, news organizations here are ignoring the story and giving Cardona a pass.

Presumably he'll still be treated back home as a hero for his frequent admonitions to keep spending more in the name of education amid ever-declining student proficiency and for his tweets pandering to the teacher unions.

Chris Powell has written about Connecticut government and politics for many years. He can be reached at CPowell@cox.net.