A.G. Gancarski
The Cold War between Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown and Action News Jax had a second heated skirmish in the past 24 hours.
The contretemps occurred Tuesday morning during a question-and-answer period after a ceremonial Renew Jax groundbreaking in Springfield. Action News reporter Lorena Inclán questioned Brown about a previous campaign incident, when he told her, “I don’t want to answer your questions.”
Inclán’s questions dealt with the mayor telling Action News on Monday that he couldn’t talk about campaign issues on city time, after a press conference promoting city business at city hall. He had said that he “had enough ethics complaints” filed against him already, to which the reporter mentioned that Action News had checked and there were no ethics complaints against him.
As Florida Politics reported Monday, Action News Jax has taken umbrage to the Brown’s campaign refusal to have the mayor take part in their scheduled debate on May 6. Paige Kelton, a veteran presence on Action News, has suggested that the mayor’s refusal to debate on their station has to do with them being more “aggressive” than other outlets when it comes to holding them accountable.
Those on the other side of the relationship, meanwhile, contend that Action News reporters cross boundaries that other outlets do not, with the blurring of campaign coverage and city business being a prime example.
It remains to be seen whether the mayor will reverse course and debate Curry on May 6. If not, he can likely expect hard-hitting questions through the balance of the campaign.
He almost certainly can expect the “I don’t want to answer your questions” quote to feature prominently during May Sweeps promos, or starting as early as Tuesday evening.
