Peter Schorsch
This past Thursday, Mitch Perry working, in part, from several tips I received, reported that a dispute with a signature-gathering firm is making it likely that the group attempting to expand solar power choice in Florida will fall short of acquiring the necessary signatures to qualify for the ballot next year.
It’s no understatement to say Perry’s story put a heart through the dagger of Floridians for Solar Choice, which was forced to publicly acknowledge that its efforts have faltered and that it will pivot to attempting to get on the ballot in 2018, not next year.
Perry’s story was so good, even FloridaPolitics.com’s rivals at the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald noted it in its reporting — something the Times/Herald is often loathe to do.
Other outlets, like The Tampa Tribune, did not bother to reference Perry’s story at all. The Trib’s story was written by Jeff Schweers, so this is a troubling sign from the new-guy-in-town.
And then there was the News Service of Florida, which did us the favor of referencing Perry’s story (in the fourth-to-last paragraph) but while doing so referred to FloridaPolitics.com as a “blog.”
With reporters Jim Rosica, Mitch Perry, A.G. Gankarski, Janelle Irwin, Melissa Ross, and Andrew Wilson, along with contributions from Phil Ammann, Ryan Ray, and myself, FloridaPolitics.com has a more robust reporting staff than the News Service of Florida. And that’s before reporters Jenna Buzzacco-Foerster and Scott Powers begin writing for the outlet in January.
Few writers are still in love with the word “blog” as I am, but FloridaPolitics.com is anything but a “blog” and Jim Turner, the reporter who wrote the NSF story, knows better. Unfortunately, this appears to be another attempt by NSF to diminish our work — not that “blog” should be regarded a pejorative.
