Miami Herald’s Mary Ellen Klas Inappropriately Lobbied FL Senators, Paper Tried to Cover it Up

January 7, 2021 Updated 8:30 A.M. ET

TALLAHASSEE (FCV) – In a Florida Power and Light (FPL) public release, evidence has emerged that shows Miami Herald Tallahassee bureau chief Mary Ellen Klas inappropriately lobbying Florida senators, abridging the line of impartiality as a journalist.

“It has become clear that [Klas] is seeking to pre-litigate the 2022 redistricting cycle, pitting Senate counsel against expert witnesses frequently used by plaintiffs in litigation against the state, thereby creating a manipulated legislative record to be used in the courts,” a letter to the Miami Herald from the Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson read.

“It appears that Mary Ellen Klas has crossed the line of reporting and informing to advocating for organizations that will bring litigation against the Legislature.”

Not only that, but when FPL tried to get an opinion article published in the Miami Herald detailing some of these actions by Klas, the Herald manipulatively edited their version of the editorial and did not inform their readership that it was heavily edited.

“The Miami Herald refused to publish our full opinion editorial, choosing instead to run a heavily edited version – in their Dec. 26 print edition, buried in their ‘Letters to the Editor’ section. Only after we inquired why the edited version had yet to appear online did the paper post the same copy to their website,” FPL said.

FPL’s opinion piece was meant to be a response to a Miami Herald article that FPL believed was one-sided against the company.

“We encourage readers to ask why the Miami Herald might have wanted to sweep FPL’s opposing voice ‘under the rug’ and away from its readers’ eyes. Was it to protect its Tallahassee bureau chief?”

FCV recently included Klas in its Top 5 Most Liberal Biased Florida Reporters of the Week.