In more than 1,250 pages of correspondence obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Fox News coordinated their efforts to broadcast stories to put DeSantis’ disastrous coronavirus response into a positive light, including staging promotional events that only Fox News was invited to cover.
One of the frontrunners for the GOP 2024 Republican presidential nomination, DeSantis is overseeing a state that is single-handedly accounting for 20% of new coronavirus cases in the United States. Hospitals in Florida are nearing capacity, and the state recently received 300 ventilators from the federal government, a fact DeSantis claimed he had no knowledge of.
For Fox News, however, DeSantis has become the poster boy for its “freedom” talking point, bullying local governments to abandon masking and public health restrictions as the delta variant sweeps through the state. Nary a critical word of Florida’s case spike is heard on the network, but DeSantis is a fixture on the network, which heaps praise on the politician.
DeSantis appeared on various Fox News shows 113 times from Election Day through February 2020, nearly once per day, airtime that the network would’ve dedicated to Donald Trump prior to the election.
To secure DeSantis, Fox News producers have peppered him with compliments–“The governor spoke wonderfully at CPAC,” one producer wrote in March–while others agreed to let DeSantis dictate the topics discussed. DeSantis’ staff would forward talking points to Fox News producers, requiring no variation from them during the governor’s appearance.
“While other networks were busy lauding states whose governors have either retired in disgrace or are undergoing a recall, Fox News was willing to hear our perspective and report the facts,” DeSantis spokesperson Taryn Fenske said.
Meredith Beatrice, DeSantis’ former deputy director for communications, would send Fox News charts cherrypicking data on the coronavirus and formatting the infographic to misrepresent the impact of the coronavirus in Florida versus “lockdown” states. Beatrice would encourage Fox News producers to use the graphic during an interview with DeSantis, and producers would frequently comply.
DeSantis’ and Fox News’ mutual supplication has led to DeSantis appearing more on Fox than meeting with key state leaders. He’s appeared on Hannity (8 times), Tucker Carlson (6) and Laura Ingraham (7) more than he’s met with his own lieutenant governor (7 times) since the beginning of 2021.