Axios reporter Ben Montgomery, who is based in Tampa, gave a terse response to a press release sent out from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis' office after he hosted a roundtable about the dangers of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) scam in higher education.
The roundtable featured people like Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr., Chancellor of the State University System of Florida Ray Rodrigues, and education activist Christopher Rufo. Subjects such as bloated DEI departments' budgets in Florida colleges while they cracked down on conservatives students were discussed.
"DEI divides students and at its very core is the antithesis to its so-called mission," said Diaz Jr. "These initiatives have completely transformed over the years, from what were once simple efforts to ensure equal access to all students, to now focusing on ideology over merit. Thank you to Governor DeSantis for hosting this important roundtable event as we work to eliminate DEI from colleges and universities in Florida."
After the event, DeSantis' office sent out a press release offering highlights, along with a link to a video of the entire program.
"This is propaganda, not a press release," Montgomery replied.
Montgomery's response was posted to Twitter by members of DeSantis' administration as an example of bias within the mainstream media.
This afternoon, Tampa based @axios journalist @gangrey decided to respond to our press release with the below. pic.twitter.com/XkL5nBwZSs
— Alex Lanfranconi (@AlexLanfran) March 13, 2023
.@AlexLanfran is our @EducationFL communications director.
— Bryan Griffin (@BryanDGriffin) March 13, 2023
A Tampa-based @axios "reporter" responded to a press release email with "this is propaganda, not a press release."
This is modern journalism. https://t.co/s3xDt75Ibl
Montgomery's bias against the DeSantis and Florida Republicans of getting rid of divisive DEI departments is exemplified in stories he has written for Axios in recent days.
"USF students, faculty defend diversity," was the headline for a recent story written by Montgomery, which goes on to say, "The legislative session is just a day old, but students at the University of South Florida are already organizing to oppose HB 999 as an affront to academic freedom."