Florida’s Top 5 Fake News Reporters for 3/7-3/20
Florida’s Conservative Voice Presents Florida’s Top 5 Fake News Reporters of the Week: Every week, FCV will rank the worst reporters covering Florida politics. Our team, and readers, have noticed a stark uptick of fake news “journalists” that are consistently lying or misleading the public on Florida affairs in politics, ranging from Governor Ron DeSantis to COVID-19. In an effort to promote more journalistic integrity, these individuals will be cited for their attempts to mislead the public.
5. Brooke Sopelsa and Tat Bellamy-Walker (NBC News)
In a totally fake headline, NBC News framed Florida’s HB 1557 – the Parental Rights in Education Act which would ban sexual education and gender identity class instruction up to grade 3, along with other parental protections to ensure transparency of their child’s emotional well-being – as a “‘Don’t Say Gay Bill'” and “controversial LGBTQ school measure.”
The authors claim that the bill is part of an “American culture war” aimed at “targeting LGBTQ youth.”
Manipulation of media in mainstream news is not new, but it is prevalent: Sopelsa and Bellamy-Walker should learn to frame things factually, not in the terms of radical leftists.
4. Lori Rosza (Washington Post)
In an attempt to discredit Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who was recently confirmed by the Florida Senate, the Washington Post used a quote from a politically embattled and discredited anti-DeSantis politician – Rebekah Jones.
In response to Ladapo’s consistent anti-vaccine mandate and mask-mandate sentiments, and his recent declaration based on randomized clinical trials that show vaccine risks may outweigh benefits for healthy children, the Post cited Peter Hotez, the “Chief Science Adviser” to Rebekah Jones.
“It’s terrible … To be at such distinct variance from the hundreds of physicians and scientists at the CDC and the FDA is reckless at best and dangerous at worst,” he said.
Jones was discredited as a faux ‘whistleblower’ who tried to claim DeSantis was suppressing and manipulating COVID-19 data. Apparently, ‘science’ means that the opinion of one so-called ‘expert’ cancels out the opinion of another.
3. A. G. Gancarski (Florida Politics)
In an article for Florida Politics, Gancarski refers to January 6th as an “insurrection” and frames a Trump-supporting woman as “QAnon-adjacent” after she was appointed to the Florida Board of Education.
In claiming Esther Byrd is somehow “defend[ing]” an “insurrection” on January 6th, he uses a quote where she refers to the peacefully protesting Trump supporters who did not attack police as those who “peacefully protest,” expressly not defending any violent actors.
QAnon is a loose term used to describe conservatives online who believe in various theories regarding evil plans to commit atrocities, and their inevitable solutions, like the idea that there is a human trafficking operation.
Gancarski smears Byrd as some kind of ‘far-right extremist’ type when, in reality, she supports the 1st Amendment right of peaceful protestors and supports Donald Trump.
2. Mary Ellen Klas (Miami Herald)
Welcome back to our number 1 spot, Mary!
Klas claims that with a new Parental Rights in Education law, Florida is facing “new restrictions on First Amendment rights.”
She hilarious claims that government employees have a “free speech” right to teach 5 year old children in public schools about sex.
“A series of bills sent to the governor this week by Florida’s Republican-led Legislature will impose new sanctions on what is acceptable speech and assembly in schools, communities and businesses,” she said.
“Opponents say the effort was also intended to stoke the heated emotions of ethnic and class warfare, as culturally conservative, mostly white voters fear the changes coming from an increasingly diverse and multi-ethnic society,” she went on.
This is a common line from leftists – that basic ideas on human interaction are about ‘white racism’ and ‘fear’ of cultural change.
If cultural change means teaching young children about sex in government facilities, Democrats are in for a rude awakening.
1. Kate Cimini (Naples Daily News/USA Today)
Cimini published two articles in the Naples Daily News, a subsidiary of USA Today, covering Florida’s Voice’s Patriot Fest, hosted in Naples, Florida, with conservative headliners like Marjorie Taylor Greene, DC Draino, and Graham Allen.
Before the event, Cimini tried to link Brendon Leslie and FCV contributor and owner of Oakes Farms – Alfie Oakes – to a so-called “insurrection” at January 6. She also referred to FCV News as a “far-right news site,” despite the reporting of factual information.
After, Cimini lied about a video given to FCV by Greene. Greene was a headline speaker for the event and likely helped ticket sales, but was unable to make it last-minute. Cimini falsely claimed that FCV played a video for the audience of around 1,000 throughout the day that was “previously recorded [by Greene] for a different event.”
However, Greene filmed the video specifically for Patriot Fest and addressed the crowd as “Patriot Fest” in the video.
