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From the 2020 election through February, Fox News has asked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to appear on its airwaves almost once a day and voluntarily broadcast organized events – put together by the DeSantis team – which looked good on the governor.
Driving the news: That’s according to Steve Contorno of the Tampa Bay Times, who received four months of emails between the network and the DeSantis office via a registration request.
Why is this important: The 1,250 pages of emails “show how DeSantis used the nation’s largest conservative megaphone and show a striking effort by Fox to inflate the Republican profile,” Contorno writes.
- The so-called “exclusives” – like the one on “Fox & Friends” in January touting DeSantis’ efforts to vaccinate the elderly – are orchestrated in conjunction with the governor’s media, who share topics and talking points with the network.
- Once, Contorno reports, a producer even offered to let DeSantis pick the topic if he was willing to come.
The big picture: The network has made DeSantis one of the most popular Republicans in the country, and the friendly attention has already given him a big boost for a 2024 presidential race.
- A nationwide poll of Republican voters in July showed DeSantis would get 39% of the theoretical GOP primary vote without former President Trump – with former Vice President Pence at just 15%.
Between the lines: In the first six months of this year, DeSantis had scheduled more meetings with Sean Hannity than with his lieutenant governor and the state’s top public health official.
The other side: “While other networks were busy praising states whose governors have stepped down in disgrace or are recalled, Fox News was willing to hear our point of view and report the facts,” said a DeSantis spokesperson at The Times in a statement.
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