The New York Times ran a story about Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) refusing to engage with members of the hyper-partisan mainstream media, much less insult them like former President Donald Trump.
The story began with the tale of ABC News reporter Miles Cohen and not being able to secure an interview with DeSantis:
Assigned to cover the re-election campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Miles Cohen, a young ABC News reporter, found himself stymied. The governor would not grant him an interview. Aides barred him from some campaign events and interrupted his conversations with supporters.
When Mr. Cohen was finally able to ask a question about the governor’s handling of Hurricane Ian, Mr. DeSantis shouted him down — “Stop, stop, stop” — and scolded the media for “trying to cast aspersions.” The DeSantis campaign then taunted Mr. Cohen on Twitter, prompting a torrent of online vitriol.
"Mr. Trump, who heckled the 'fake news' in his speech that evening, elevated media-bashing into a high art for Republicans. But ahead of the next presidential race, potential candidates like Mr. DeSantis are taking a more radical approach: not just attacking nonpartisan news outlets, but ignoring them altogether," the Times' story states.
This has confounded political observers as the norm has been politicians have to speak with outlets they do not like in order to reach a wider range of potential voters. DeSantis, who is willing to speak with conservative outlets, did not follow that and managed to win in a landslide. Even Republican strategists in the Times' story say would need to DeSantis engage with the national media should he decide to run for president in 2024.
The times DeSantis has spoken with mainstream reporters, he has often called them out whenever they ask a overtly-biased question.
Ron DeSantis shuts down Lee County delayed evacuation narrative: "It's a little rich coming from an industry that on Monday, all day, they were all in Tampa Bay... Now they're turning around and wondering why [Lee County] didn't do something they were not telling people to do!" pic.twitter.com/f39ED50qdK
— Florida’s Voice (@FLVoiceNews) October 3, 2022
What the Times also seems to miss is the fact the mainstream media has helped DeSantis enter the national conversation without him needing to do anything beyond carrying out the will of Florida voters, which often causes left-wing meltdowns.