A reporter based out of Florida was caught on a hot mic before a Tuesday press conference with Governor Ron DeSantis (R) explaining her job was to make him "uncomfortable."
Atyia Collins, a reporter for First Coast News, can be heard talking with others before the event started.
"My job here is to ask tough questions and make him uncomfortable, I guess. I'm gonna try! Gonna try to at least get one," Collins said, adding she would like to run up and yell questions at him.
Members of DeSantis communication staff took issue with Collins' comments, who did manage to ask DeSantis a misleading question about the state's efforts to ensure pornography is not available to school children. Collins tweeted about the press conference but then locked tweet to prevent users from commenting on it after it was revealed she was the one who was on the hot mic.
For reference, this is the journactivist today: pic.twitter.com/A6J0cRIil6
— Christina Pushaw 🐊 🇺🇸 (@ChristinaPushaw) February 14, 2023
Gov. DeSantis refutes false media narrative about "book bans":
— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) February 14, 2023
"Florida law prohibits an adult from giving a school child pornography...that's been the law for a long time. So understand, they're talking about long standing Florida law that's trying to protect young children." pic.twitter.com/FxsydC4PRQ
"Hi FCN2go - is it the job of your station to keep the people of Northeast Florida informed about the news in their communities and in our state? Or is it to 'make the governor uncomfortable' by "rushing up to him when he gets off stage and yelling questions?" Christina Pushaw asked.
.@FCN2go had a reporter at our press conference today that was caught on a hot mic with orders from their news team to "just run up to [the governor] off stage and yell questions" hoping to "make him uncomfortable."
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) February 14, 2023
Nonetheless, they had their question asked and answered by the… https://t.co/4Rw1hLZa6z