Connecticut Papers Reporting on Church Decisions

I do not have standing within the Catholic Church nor within the Episcopalian Church. I am not a member of either. Therefore, I avoid commenting on these churches internal decisions re: governance. However, Connecticut papers feel no such qualms, and, I am free to comment on their reporting.

The Hartford Courant's story, Under Fire, Jesuit Editor Leaving, celebrates the independence of the editor of the Jesuit weekly magazine, lamenting the newly oppressive imposition of hierarchical authority.

At the same time, the Waterbury Republican-American, carried an article about six Episcopalian priests who are facing a crisis of conscience because of their Bishop's stance on gay marriage. They, of course, are not called independent, intellectually vigorous thinkers. Instead they are rebels being influenced by out-of-state rabble-rousers.

Again, I have no standing within either of these two churches, but the juxtaposition of these two stories is striking. Why do these papers, who have less standing than I do -- I, at least, am now a seminarian -- feel so free to add their evaluative commentary to straight new reporting?