Press Pool’s Shallow End

It’s a given that Gov. Rick (“I won an election after stiffing all interview requests by every editorial board that had the nerve to ask”) Scott is hardly enamored of the press. “Necessary evil” seems a likely gubernatorial take. But he has his reasons, some of which make sense.

It’s understandable, for example, that when Scott does deign to give a press conference, he wants a respectful decorum to prevail. That’s his prerogative, and he’s not wrong. And lots of reporters, to be sure, are decorum challenged. Back in the day, President Ronald Reagan made Sam Donaldson raise his hand, and America loved it.

We also get it when the rookie governor takes exception to a gotcha line of questioning from a preening reporter. It’s not just a function of the First Amendment’s untidy underbelly. It also comes with the culture of media personality. A lot of us would bristle too. But we’re not answerable to the people of Florida.

Obviously, it wasn’t like this back at Columbia/HCA.

But what’s with this “pool” reporter obsession? The opaque side of governmental transparency?

To recap: “Pool” or cooperative press coverage is sometimes required of the media. Typically for logistical purposes involving events and individuals that are media magnets. Sometimes the entire press corps–whether it be Washington or Tallahassee–has to represented by a chosen few. Normally it would be a print, a TV and a radio representative, who then make their reports available to the rest of the corps.

But the choosing, of course, is not done by the subject being covered. Otherwise, they would–understandably–want only those deemed most compatible. So, unless you like your news possibly manipulated by an all-too-friendly filter, you wouldn’t want this kind of arrangement.

But the Scott Administration, in effect, is holding out for such a scenario. They not only seem determined to designate more gubernatorial opportunities as pool-worthy, but they don’t much like the tradition of the media having too much say in who actually wades into that press pool.

The Florida press corps is comfortable pooling reporters based on a random rotation or utilizing the method employed by the White House: having reporters designated by rotation from a list maintained by the press corps.

So far, that’s not nearly good enough for the Scott Administration. They want much more say-so in who covers them from the press corps. It’s a mindset that needs to be deep-sixed. Otherwise, media outlets will not pool and will choose to cover logistically-challenged events independently.

Talk about decorum challenged.

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