What Ron DeSantis’ media strategy reveals about him

TALLAHASSEE — Gov. Ron DeSantis flogs the “corporate media” with regularity. The Trump base eats it up and it plays well in right-wing media. The false bravado helps the governor mask his own insecurities about why he prefers to avoid testy encounters with Florida-based reporters.

Past governors also resented the media at times. Bob Martinez, Lawton Chiles, Jeb Bush and others had their share of bad press, and all had tense moments with reporters. Claude Kirk once memorably threatened to oppose the license renewals of TV stations after they didn’t cover his press conference the day he unveiled a new “Arrive Alive” license tag.

But that was the exception. Tangling with the press is a rite of passage for a governor, a test of mettle. The occasional “hit piece” or blind “sources say” story goes with the territory. This governor goes way too far. Tearing a page out of the Trump playbook, he tries to de-legitimize the role of a free press in a democratic society.

The strategy mostly reveals DeSantis’ thin skin and a reluctance to have contact with people who don’t agree with him. What’s he afraid of ?

Previous governors did not block local reporters from covering something as mundane as a bill signing ceremony. They didn’t refuse to meet editorial boards or slowwalk release of their daily schedule, an irritant that’s standard operating procedure in DeSantis World.

The schedule is still a handy guide for what the state’s most powerful leader is doing, which may be why he doesn’t like us seeing it.

DeSantis silences opposing voices and withholds the release of public records until newspapers sue him. He increasingly cherry-picks when and where he answers questions, and the softer the better (with the rare exception of an in-depth interview with Politico Florida last year).

You could see it coming, though. As a candidate for governor three years ago, DeSantis rode Fox’s airwaves to a narrow victory, leaving reporters to scour Facebook and Twitter to figure out where he would be campaigning the next day. The staple of every past campaign, the stump speech, became the IFB — the tiny earpiece TV guests wear to hear an anchor’s questions.

The strategy worked, and his poll numbers look very good, so DeSantis has no reason to change. As he embarks on a 2022 reelection campaign, DeSantis’ media circle is getting smaller when it should be getting bigger.

This week, he did an hour-long town hall from The Villages on Newsmax TV, the latest alternative for Trumpers who think Fox News has gone too soft and centrist.

The program showcased DeSantis’ strategy of talking only to true believers who will applaud his every utterance. Parts of the Newsmax show, co-hosted by ex-Trump spokesman Sean Spicer, could have been scripted by DeSantis himself (maybe they were).

In an exchange requiring one-word answers, Spicer asked DeSantis: “Army or Navy?” (He’s a Navy vet). “Golf or tennis?” (The governor golfs every chance he gets, and sometimes brings his kids). A Miami Vice cultural reference, “Crockett or Tubbs?” seemed to catch him unaware and he said: “Neither.”

But DeSantis smiled and looked more relaxed as he told a funny anecdote about showing up as a freshman at Yale in a T-shirt and jeans shorts, a “Florida Man” out of place in New Haven.

This is the DeSantis that people in Florida never see because he insists on such abnormally tight control over his own exposure. It’s unsettling, and a bit creepy, especially for a politician whose stock is rising and with his sights on the White House.

The media landscape has changed dramatically, obviously, and it’s much easier to blow off a dozen reporters than the 50 or 60 of the 1990s Tallahassee press corps. The media also makes DeSantis’ job easier. Some stories carelessly glorified a Department of Health whistleblower, and a 60 Minutes show about his vaccinations was clearly an overreach.

DeSantis would be appalled at what used to be. Former Gov. Bob Martinez invited reporters to play pickup basketball at the Governor’s Mansion. (It didn’t stop negative news stories.) “Walkin’ Lawton” gave reporters lists of everyone flying with him on the state aircraft. Jeb Bush could be temperamental, but he often gave nuanced answers to questions.

The traditional give-and-take between the governor and the Florida media has at times swung between chummy and hostile, but it has endured because it’s essential to democracy and served the interests of both sides.

Until now. It no longer serves the current occupant’s short-term political agenda.