first_published_at,last_published_at,title,slug,latest_revision_created_at,charges,legal_orders,updates,categories,links,equipment_seized,equipment_broken,targeted_journalists,authors,date,exact_date_unknown,city,state,latitude,longitude,body,introduction,teaser,teaser_image,primary_video,image_caption,arrest_status,arresting_authority,release_date,detention_date,unnecessary_use_of_force,case_number,case_statuses,case_type,status_of_seized_equipment,is_search_warrant_obtained,actor,border_point,target_us_citizenship_status,denial_of_entry,stopped_previously,did_authorities_ask_for_device_access,did_authorities_ask_about_work,assailant,was_journalist_targeted,charged_under_espionage_act,subpoena_type,subpoena_statuses,name_of_business,third_party_business,legal_order_target,legal_order_type,legal_order_venue,status_of_prior_restraint,mistakenly_released_materials,type_of_denial,targeted_institutions,tags,target_nationality,workers_whose_communications_were_obtained,politicians_or_public_figures_involved 2021-06-24 13:13:14.758396+00:00,2023-12-20 21:14:35.046863+00:00,Florida journalists barred from covering Gov. DeSantis signing of controversial new election law,https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/florida-journalists-barred-from-covering-gov-desantis-signing-of-controversial-new-election-law/,2023-12-20 21:14:34.913025+00:00,,,,Denial of Access,,,,"Danielle Waugh DeRos (WPEC), Madeline Montgomery (WPEC), Steve Bousquet (South Florida Sun Sentinel), Anthony Man (South Florida Sun Sentinel), Glenna Milberg (WPLG), Matt Sczesny (WPTV-TV), Linnie Supall (WPTV-TV)",,2021-05-06,False,West Palm Beach,Florida (FL),26.71534,-80.05337,"

Journalists from multiple Florida news outlets said they were blocked from covering Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of a controversial election bill on May 6, 2021, in West Palm Beach.

Among those denied access to the bill signing event were journalists from The South Florida Sun Sentinel; West Palm Beach TV stations WPEC CBS12 and WPTV Newschannel 5; and WPLG Local 10 News, an ABC affiliate in Miami. The only news outlet allowed in to cover the event was the Fox News program Fox & Friends, according to multiple journalists.

Steve Bousquet, a columnist for The Sun Sentinel, posted on Twitter that a DeSantis spokesperson told him the signing was a “Fox exclusive.”

NEW: News media is barred from entry at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signing of controversial elections bill, SB 90. DeSantis spokeswoman Taryn Fenske says bill signing is a “Fox exclusive” pic.twitter.com/NAos6kmtQS

— Steve Bousquet (@stevebousquet) May 6, 2021

Bousquet told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he had no advance notice that access to the event would be exclusive for Fox. He said that he and other reporters came to a Hilton Hotel near the West Palm Beach airport, where a public announcement had said the bill signing would take place.

Bousquet said the event, held in a hotel conference room, resembled a political rally. Reporters could see part of the event through a window, he said, while some watched on their phones as the Fox News broadcast carried the governor signing the bill.

Bill signings are not required to be held publicly, and sometimes governors sign legislation behind closed doors. However, Bousquet, a longtime Florida political journalist, said he had never encountered a similar situation for a bill signing, particularly on a piece of very high profile legislation.

“This was really astonishing because the amount of public interest and public and press attention on that elections bill was among the highest of any piece of legislation, you know, in decades in Tallahassee,” the capital of Florida, he said.

Anthony Man, a reporter for the Sun Sentinel, posted a series of photos from the hotel on Twitter showing a line of people waiting to enter the event where the “governor will sign new Florida election law on Fox News and demonstrate his conservative bona fides for national Republican audience.” The photos showed a banner and T-shirt supporting a 2024 presidential ticket of Donald Trump and Gov. DeSantis.

Almost an hour later, Man tweeted that while outside the venue, he could hear cheering and chants of “Four more years!” from the crowd inside.

From outside @GovRonDeSantis bill signing event, can hear him revving up crowd of supporters who will serve as audience for Fox News segment during which he’ll sign new election law. Hundreds of people on their feet, cheering and applauding. Now chanting “four more years!”

— Anthony Man (@browardpolitics) May 6, 2021

Madeline Montgomery, a reporter for CBS12, tweeted that she had been at the Hilton, where the DeSantis event was planned, since 4 a.m.

It’s an odd situation here in West Palm Beach. The governor is set to speak and sign a bill at the Hilton, but media are not being allowed in. @CBS12 pic.twitter.com/hcdsIHpKBM

— Madeline Montgomery (@MadelineTV) May 6, 2021

Another CBS12 reporter, Danielle Waugh DeRos tweeted a photograph of journalists waiting outside after the event.

Reporters waiting outside DeSantis event in West Palm. We are being told it’s a Fox News exclusive and private ticketed event. Expecting him to sign controversial elections law today but won’t be able to show you @CBS12 pic.twitter.com/z15QXAE5Cx

— Danielle Waugh DaRos (@DanielleCBS12) May 6, 2021

CBS12 reporter Jay O’Brien posted on Twitter at 1:58 p.m. to confirm that his channel’s news team would not be allowed in.

“We were a pool camera, assigned to feed this event to affiliates nationwide,” O’Brien tweeted.

“It’s not just us. Not a single reporter is being let in. This in a ‘sunshine’ state that prides itself on open government.”

The Tracker was not able to confirm whether O’Brien was among the journalists denied access to the event.

Confirmed: @CBS12 News is not allowed into the event where @GovRonDeSantis will sign a controversial elections bill into law, per @MadelineTV who is outside.

We were a pool camera, assigned to feed this event to affiliates nationwide.

Now, the only camera will be Fox News

— Jay O'Brien (@jayobtv) May 6, 2021

WPLG Local 10 News reporter Glenna Milberg was at the event as well, according to a story published by the outlet. Introducing Milberg for a segment on the bill signing, a Local 10 News anchor said DeSantis signed the bill live on Fox News while “locking out local media.”

WPTV journalists were also shut out of the event, according to the outlet. Reporter Matt Sczesny said in one report that local media was excluded from the event, and reporter Linnie Supall called the exclusive access given to Fox an “unprecedented move” by the governor.

In a WPTV video, DeSantis can be seen walking to his car after signing the bill.

“It was on national TV, it wasn’t secret,” DeSantis told reporters.

A spokesperson for DeSantis did not respond to a request for comment.

Fox News told The Tampa Bay Times that the network “did not request or mandate that the May 6th event and interview with Gov. Ron DeSantis be exclusive to FOX News Media entities.”

According to Florida First Amendment Foundation staff attorney Virginia Hamrick, the state’s Sunshine Law, which requires meetings between certain officials to be public, does not apply to the bill signing. However, she said that restricting access to the event raises First Amendment issues. “We're concerned by it,” Hamrick told the Tracker.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, seen in this file photo, gave exclusive coverage of a bill signing to the Fox News program Fox & Friends on May 6, 2021, blocking all local journalists.

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