The ex-President used to call the media "the enemy." DeSantis doesn't say it out loud, but he seems okay with having his press secretary sic strangers on reporters whose stories she doesn't like.
After one story, Press Secretary Christine Pushaw tweeted "drag them." The story reported that DeSantis was touting a COVID19 antibody treatment that a big donor had invested in.
In another tweet, Pushaw threatened to "put [the reporter] on blast." She even set a deadline for the changes, and then retweeted someone else who asked followers to "Light. Them. Up." The reporter was Brendan Farrington with the Associated Press in Tallahassee.
The AP's incoming CEO, Daisy Veerasingham, wrote a letter to DeSantis on Friday asking him to stop "harassing behavior" from Pushaw. Her actions after the antibody treatment story "Resulted in a torrent of abusive comments directed at the reporter," Veerasingham wrote. "We call on you to eliminate this attack strategy from your press office."
Pushaw's response to the letter was defiant. She tweeted that the AP "is embarrassed they got caught pushing potentially deadline misinformation narratives ... and make the story into 'Republicans pounce.' Don't fall for it."
Maybe this sort of thing has happened for years on a smaller scale, but social media have enabled Pushaw's tactics to threaten reporters' lives. In this case, at least, Twitter blocked Pushaw's account, although for a mere 12 hours.
No one needs to tell WRP readers how dangerous an attack on the press -- even from a sycophantic underling -- is to capital-D Democracy. It's a deliberate effort to suppress the truth in favor of a lie. There are NO circumstances that a factually accurate story -- or even an inaccurate story that was written in a good-faith effort to tell the truth -- could be banned under the first Amendment.
Mind you, the Supreme Court justice who was confirmed despite obvious red flags -- Brett Kavanaugh -- is talking about taking a swipe at the First Amendment protections that have stood in place for more than half a century.
This is not Afghanistan. It's not Russia or China. Unless and until the Constitution itself is changed, Christine Pushaw and the man responsible for her prominence, Rick DeSantis, deserve to be sued, not only by the AP, but by the U.S. Attorney General. Or at least by the American Civil Liberties Union. Or somebody. To be frank, I don't know who has the standing to put an end to this.
_________
Do you think that this is a big deal -- or not?
Is this development really a threat to democracy?
Do you think that DeSantis and his press secretary should be sued?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ap-desantis-reporter-harassment_n_61201c8ae4b0caf7ce30a657
Illustration: "Scream for all your worth" by id-iom is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
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