Margaret Sullivan, who is a former Washington Post columnist, penned a piece for the Guardian describing how Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is "just getting started with his rightwing agenda. That should worry us all" and not only that, but "the media mostly fawns over him."
That's right, according to this mainstream media writer, the rest of her colleagues are not critical of DeSantis.
Ron DeSantis is just getting started with his rightwing agenda. That should worry us all, yet the media mostly fawns over him. My latest in @GuardianUS https://t.co/oJBnV8AKgc
— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) March 10, 2023
Saying Fox News "swoons" DeSantis, Sullivan adds he "enjoys glowing treatment from the mainstream press, too":
All too predictably, many of the headlines from his recent State of the State speech not only centered on presidential politics but also magnified his boasts. Here’s a skepticism-free example from CNBC:
‘You ain’t seen nothing yet’: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis touts state record and fuels 2024 speculation.
The media should be delving into the substance of that record, including the kitchen-table economic issues that have nothing to do with performative anti-woke nonsense. Instead of letting DeSantis play at will on his favorite field of divisive social issues, reporters should dig into his war on teachers’ unions, like trying to limit how they can collect dues and where they conduct union business. Reporters might even point out that this runs counter to Republican claims that they are now the workers’ party.
Sullivan disproves her own point earlier in the article when she refers to the Paternal Rights bill as the "Don't Say Gay" bill. The misnomer was popularized by the mainstream media after it was created by LGBTQ+ activists. Because of this, parts of the country actually believe you can't say "gay" or likewise in schools because of the misleading propaganda, thanks to the media uncritically spreading it.
I try to cast a wide net
— Margaret Sullivan (@Sulliview) March 10, 2023
And that's the thing, the mainstream media is so critical of DeSantis that a straightforward headline from CNBC was viewed as "glowing treatment." Sullivan has long lived in an alternate reality where the media has no liberal bias so it is no surprise she continues to carry out dispatches from said alternate reality at the Guardian.
