Peter Schorsch
There’s little doubt that the Tampa Bay Times’ Craig Pittman is one of the most biased reporters working in Florida.
He’s anti-Republican. Anti-business. Anti-progress.
This writer has, on multiple occasions, butted heads with Pittman, leading to two published walk-backs of his reporting (one involving his reporting about Florida politicians’ trips to King Ranch, another was a story about hydrologists falsely accusing the DEP of missing sinkhole signs).
Undoubtedly, Pittman will snark back at this post with some accusation about me being pay-to-play, blah, blah, blah.
As Pittman likes to say: “Bless his heart.”
If you ever needed an example of his bias, look no further than Pittman’s story about Carlos Beruff appointed to a Florida conservation board.
Check out this lede:
“Hidden among more than 70 last-minute appointments by outgoing Gov. Rick Scott, released at 6 p.m. Friday night, was one unusual choice: Bradenton developer Carlos Beruff to serve on the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.”
Listen, I’m not a big fan of Beruff. In fact, I’ve criticized Beruff a lot more than I scrutinized Pittman.
I’m also not a fan of these last-minute appointments from Scott.
And I’m especially not a fan of Beruff being named to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
However, Beruff’s appointment was not “hidden.” It may have been announced as part of a Friday night news dump — and that’s worth mentioning — but it wasn’t hidden.
Beruff’s appointment was published, clear as day, in a news release sent to the media.
Maybe, just maybe, one could say news of Beruff’s appointment was “tucked” into a Friday evening news release, but by the very fact that the announcement was via a news release is proof that the appointment was not “hidden.”
Of course, “tucked” doesn’t set up the narrative as well as “hidden” and that’s why Pittman employed that specific word (instead of any other).
I guess the one thing not hidden here is Pittman’s bias.
