Political tactic to avoid press continues

DeSantis blocks nonpartisan news outlets, but the strategy would face its biggest test if he pursues a presidential bid

Assigned to cover the reelection campaign of Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, Miles Cohen, a young ABC News reporter, found himself stymied. The governor would not grant him an interview. Aides barred him from some campaign events and interrupted his conversations with supporters.

When Cohen was finally able to ask a question about the governor’s handling of Hurricane Ian, DeSantis shouted him down — “Stop, stop, stop” — and scolded the media for “trying to cast aspersions.” The DeSantis campaign then taunted Cohen on Twitter, prompting a torrent of online vitriol.

So on election night, Cohen decamped to a friendlier environment for the news media: Mar-a-Lago, where former President Donald Trump greeted reporters by name. “He came up to us, asked how the sandwiches were and took 20 questions,” Cohen recalled.

Trump, who heckled the “fake news” in his speech that evening, elevated media-bashing into a high art for Republicans. But ahead of the next presidential race, potential candidates like DeSantis are taking a more radical approach: not just attacking nonpartisan news outlets but ignoring them altogether.

Although he courted right-wing podcasters and conservative Fox News hosts, DeSantis did not grant an extensive interview to a national nonpartisan news organization during his 2022 reelection bid — and he coasted to victory, with Rupert Murdoch’s media empire now promoting him as a 2024 contender.

His success is an ominous sign for the usual rules of engagement between politicians and the press as another nationwide election looms. Presidential candidates typically endure media scrutiny in exchange for the megaphone and influence of mainstream outlets. But in an intensely partisan, choose-your-ownnews era, the traditional calculus may have shifted.

“The old way of looking at it is: ‘I have to do every media hit that I possibly can, from as broad a political spectrum as I can, to reach as many people as possible,’ ” said Nick Iarossi, a longtime DeSantis