Tampa Bay Times Feathers Ruffled After Reporter Barred from DeSantis News Conference

Tampa Bay, Fl
Opinion by: E. Eugene Webb PhD
Author:   In Search of Robin  So You Want to Blog.

This dust-up started when a Times/Herald reporter was denied access to a Governor DeSantis news briefing on the Corona Virus.

Tampa Bay Times David Smiley Times/Herald reporter barred from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ news conference.

The Times was so infuriated that it dispatched John Romano to write an opinion piece to convey their displeasure.

John Romano Tampa Bay Times: You have a right to be angry, Gov. DeSantis. But not petty and petulant.

Not satisfied the Times felt the necessity of sending their own message in the form of an editorial:

Tampa Bay Times: The importance of open government in a crisis | Editorial.

These days I am not sure who has the corner on the hysteria market. The public buying toilet paper faster than it can be manufactured or the media clamoring, yelling, screaming and demanding at every pandemic news briefing by a public official.

Maybe the management at the Times would be well advised to do a little journalistic etiquette training with its field reporters with an emphasis on civility.

I have grown a bit weary of the amount of reporting on the pandemic and the tendency of the media to one-up each other on the disaster, while tearing away at the people who are trying to solve a problem they did not create.

Perhaps the Times and their pool media people should head the advice of their peer Mr. Romano.

We must accept that disagreements are inevitable and acknowledge perfect answers may be impossible to find. And in this absence of certainty, it would help if we could rely on integrity to be a dependable guide. – John Romano Tampa Bay Times.

That’s a saw that cuts both ways, especially if you include the petty and petulant pieces.

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