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Florida’s election results were a resounding stamp of approval on Republican job performance. Florida voters rewarded Republicans with supermajorities in the house and senate as well as every cabinet position. The last time there was a democratic governor elected to office in the Sunshine State was Gov. Kenneth Hood Mackay in 1999.
Judging by the headlines leading up to the elections, the editorial board endorsements, and the limited articles since the election, you would think the election outcomes in Florida would have been different. It is clear some of our newspapers are not delivering the “real” news.
Orlando Sentinel published a variety of negative stories against DeSantis and often referred to the democratic talking points in articles before the election. The Miami Herald, which supported Crist, said Gov. DeSantis was “mean” in the aftermath of a “woke” time in history. In a recent publication by an independent journalist, Jason Garcia said, “but the attack is coming from big businesses,” and then said, “the bottom line: Politicians and lobbyists in Tallahassee have teamed up to thwart the will of the voters.”
Big Business is the problem now? Is that because Democrats lost, and now they need a new scapegoat? It seems that Florida media outlets are out to attack Republicans and businesses while supporting and defending Democrats. This is not speculation; it’s the reality of the reporting of “journalists” across the state. Voters are fed up with the policies of the Democratic party, not to mention the hypocrisy. Floridians are not buying into spreading false information used to distract from the real issues facing Americans.
While newspapers would lead you to believe that Florida is on the wrong track, voters clearly don’t believe that rhetoric. Gov. DeSantis and Republicans won every major demographic between Hispanics, women, and those with PhDs, as well as those in Miami Dade, Palm Beach, and Hillsborough, while local media outlets said otherwise.
Florida deserves a fair and balanced press. Journalists want to complain about businesses getting involved in elections. Report the facts. Share at least two sides of a story, not just one. Let people decide what they want to believe, not what the media wants them to believe. If businesses should be out of elections, then the media should also get out of the business of being a mouthpiece for one political party. The disconnect between editorial boards and journalists and the average Floridian could not be any greater.
Carlos Trujillo served as Ambassador to the Organization of American
States after he was appointed to the post in 2017 by Donald J Trump.
Prior, Trujillo served as a member of the Florida House of
Representatives for eight years.