Columnist’s opinion piece of Mayor Deegan denied by JAXTODAY following administration criticism

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A JAXTODAY opinion columnist told Florida’s Voice that his article critiquing Mayor Donna Deegan’s “lack of change” for the city was rejected by the outlet.

On Florida’s Voice with Brendon Leslie, Jacksonville Columnist Andrew Moss said he believes the mayor’s office is “putting pressure” on the news outlet.

“I think there’s clearly a pressure campaign going on with the Deegan administration in order to change the narrative of their lack of accomplishments as an administration,” Moss said.

Moss said that “a lot” of his articles focused on criticism of the mayor’s administration.

After JAXTODAY published Moss’ recent opinion piece about how Duval County Republican Chairman Dean Black is “controlling the narrative” on certain issues in Jacksonville and the mayor is not, he received criticism online.

Diversity Manager for the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission Jimmy Midyette, who was appointed by Deegan, commented on Moss’ article on social media.

“Grammar problems, at least one typo (or intentional insult), and debunked narratives; this is not the content you want to put before readers on the same day your hand is out for money,” Midyette said.

Moss said he found Midyette’s comments “offensive” because he said it’s “essentially the administration speaking through this person.”

“Being in politics, people critique you a lot, that’s fine, I don’t mind that,” Moss said. “But when you threaten a publication for publishing an opinion column [….] essentially threaten them for donations because they published a story that is critical of the person, the politician you work for, I just took that, I found that very personally, just, you know, offensive.”

Moss said on the day his next column was “supposed to be published,” another writer’s positive story about the mayor was published instead by Josh Gellers, who was appointed by Deegan in July to her transition team.

Moss said he “realized on that day” that “clearly there was more at play.”

In an email obtained by Florida’s Voice that was sent to Moss from JAXTODAY Editor Jessica Polombo, she told him the outlet is “scaling back opinion content in general” and already ran a piece he wrote both criticizing the mayor and one praising her so she would “like to move on to other topics for the time being.”

“I think the Deegan administration is clearly exerting pressure on JAXTODAY,” Moss said.

Polombo told Florida’s Voice that JAXTODAY’s goal is “bridging understanding among people who don’t naturally agree with each other.”

She said Moss’ most recent article was denied because they had recently run a series of columns that addressed the mayor’s performance.

“We told him we were ready to move on to other topics at that moment,” Polombo said. “At the same time and for the same reason, we also chose not to publish some column submissions in support of the mayor. I’ve also invited Andrew to submit more columns.”

Moss said that going forward, he does not have “any hope” for the Deegan administration.

“They’re rudderless,” Moss said. “They have no actual future goals planned out, and they’re captured in a bubble, which frankly, is only going to harm them going forward.”

According to Polombo, JAXTODAY is a parent organization of WJCT Public Media, which is a nonprofit news organization that receives funding from a range of sources.

Polombo said funders “do not have any involvement in or influence on the editorial process.”

Florida’s Voice reached out to Midyette and the mayor’s office but did not receive a response.