Please consider subscribing for $6 a month to support fearless, ad-free media commentary. Thanks!
Stay healthy.
Be kind.
As Covid rages on in Florida, turning the Sunshine State not only into a virus epicenter of the United States but of the entire world, news organizations aren’t being honest about the public health crisis under Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. They’re not being transparent about how months ago they embraced GOP spin and portrayed the derelict governor as a pandemic star, regurgitating conservative rhetoric about how liberal critics had been proven wrong about DeSantis’ wrong-headed policy decisions, which have since propelled Florida into a grave health crisis.
The state recently broke its one-day record for new Covid cases, topping out at 21,000 which is as many new cases as the entire country of France tabulates each day. Florida now has more than 12,000 (unvaccinated) people occupying hospital beds battling Covid, another grim benchmark under DeSantis. It’s unthinkable that the state has been plunged into public health chaos when a safe vaccine is readily available to all Floridians over the age of 12.
At a time when states are supposed to be emerging from the year-and-a-half pandemic, Florida is shifting into reverse – it recently recorded more coronavirus cases this week than California, Texas, New York and Illinois combined. This all comes 15 months after DeSantis famously, and loudly, declared victory over the pandemic, back when the state was tallying 500 cases a day.
This debacle, and the media’s refusal to be transparent about how badly it managed the DeSantis story, says as much about the state of the Beltway media as it does about this burgeoning Covid chapter.
For an industry that demands transparency and accountability from public officials, the political press is terrible at conceding its mistakes, especially when those blunders are documented by liberals. Programmed to fear charges of liberal media bias, the Beltway press often scrambles to correct supposed failures highlighted by conservatives. Hyper-sensitive to bad-faith, right-wing critiques and eager to make nice with those accusers, journalists uniformly look away when confronted by the left with irrefutable evidence of failure. And boy, did they screw up the DeSantis story.
This spring, journalists eagerly touted DeSantis’ supposed virus leadership— it was Politico that announced, “How Ron DeSantis Won the Pandemic.” This, after 30,000 Floridians had already died from the virus and after the governor foolishly placed one million orders of hydroxychloroquine in tribute to Trump.
"After a year of criticism by health experts, mockery from comedians and blistering critiques from political rivals, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is standing unabashedly tall among the nation's governors on the front lines of the coronavirus fight," CNN cheered, adding that DeSantis remained "defiant and combative.” CNN suggested he deserved a star turn because "Florida lands nearly in the middle of all states on a variety of coronavirus metrics” — talk about a low bar.
“Vindication for Ron DeSantis,” the Wall Street Journal announced. The New York Times cheered, “In a country just coming out of the morose grip of coronavirus lockdowns, Florida feels unmistakably hot.”
Not one of those news outlets, that I’ve seen or heard, has addressed its glowing DeSantis coverage, or explained to news consumers how and why newsrooms rushed in to paint the Republican as a Covid savior, only to watch the state now grapple with a man-made crisis.
Incredibly, DeSantis is still getting the media’s benefit of doubt.
The New York Times on Tuesday published a column from Alex Azar, who served as was secretary of health and human services under Trump, praising DeSantis for helping spreading a pro-vaccine message to voters. That’s an absurd thing to be saying in August 2021. The truth is, DeSantis went AWOL for most of this year on the topic of vaccines.
Watching the Republican Party and Fox News embrace dangerous, anti-vaccine rhetoric, DeSantis didn’t want to be out of step as he eyes a possible presidential run in 2024. Instead of acting as the steward of a vulnerable local population, DeSantis abdicated his responsibilities for partisan reasons. Yet today, he receives praise in the pages of the Times.
And when the governor recently took the extraordinary irresponsible move of forbidding local school districts from mandating masks for students if needed to battle local virus surges, CNN ran a pro-GOP chyron while reporting the story: “DeSantis signs executive order giving parents power to choose whether to mask kids at school.”
The news outlet most in need of some DeSantis self-reflection is Politico, which essentially doubled as the governor’s communications shop last winter and spring, churning out three separate cheerleading pieces for the Florida Republican:
• “Covid wars launch DeSantis into GOP ‘top tier’
• “How Ron DeSantis won the pandemic”
• “Ron DeSantis Is Very Pleased With Himself”
That last piece clocked in at 8,000 words (!!), and read like it had been ghost-written by DeSantis’ spokesperson. “He was right,” read the first sentence, and the glowing profile continued for there, detailing how DeSantis had foiled his critics by producing some sort of miraculous Covid oasis in the Sunshine State. “He is basking in a moment of reassessment of what and how he has done—and also of what it might mean, not just for his and his state’s political future but that of the nation.”
Everybody makes mistakes. And holding DeSantis up as Republican Covid hero was a doozy. Now the press needs to address that failure.
(Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
💻 GOOD STUFF:
There are so many right-wing media outlets that function as a cancer on this country, with Gateway Pundit being right near the top. A bastion of lies, smears, and Russian propaganda, the site continues to flourish in part because it has loyal readers like Trump, who wallow in its ugly conspiracies.
Gateway’s disturbing influence was recently highlighted when the DOJ released phone call notes in connection with Trump’s pressure campaign to overturn the election late last year.
From the Daily Beast’s “Website Run by ‘Dumbest Man on the Internet’ Helped Fuel Trump’s Effort to Cancel Democracy”:
The Gateway Pundit’s small role in Trump’s endeavor to weaponize the DOJ against the American electoral process underscores just how easily a discredited far-right media site established a pipeline to the decision-making of the then most powerful person on Earth. It also shows how this one website—founded by a guy repeatedly dubbed the “dumbest man on the internet”—managed to play a part in fueling the efforts that brought the country to the brink of democratic rupture.
🇮🇪 FUN STUFF — BECAUSE WE ALL NEED A BREAK
Martin Garrix (featuring Bono & The Edge), “We Are The People”
It’s basically a new U2 song, in the form of an irresistible dance mix from Dutch DJ Martin Garrix.
Featuring Bono’s hallmark, uplifting vocals and The Edge’s tell-tale guitar scratch, “We Are the People” strikes an instant, anthemic note as Garrix transports it all to the dance floor.
We are the people we've been waiting for
Out of the ruins of hate and war
Army of lovers never seen before
We are the people we've been waiting for
We are the people of the open hand
The streets of Dublin to Notre-Dame
We'll build it better than we did before
We are the people we've been waiting for
🎙 Click here to listen to the music that’s been featured on PRESS RUN, via a Spotify playlist.
Click here to listen via Apple Music.
The press needs to address its DeSantis debacle