Fake news? Republican National Convention host Mayor blasts media for COVID-19 coverage

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, responding to coverage of the surge in the number of Jacksonville’s COVID-19 cases, bemoaned “irresponsible reporting” in a series of tweets Sunday night.

These set the stage for what should be a lively news conference at noon Monday for the Mayor of the city hosting the 2020 Republican National Convention.

Duval County, for the last two days, has seen a positive testing rate flirting with 10%, a surge mirroring phenomena elsewhere in the state, where positive tests have spiked in recent days.

However, Curry notes that despite the increase in positive tests, the effect on the hospital system is thus far negligible.

“Hospital admissions related to COVID are not rising,” Curry said. “Any local or national media headline leading people to believe that masses are getting sick and hospitalized from COVID in Jacksonville is not true and is irresponsible reporting.”

The Mayor went on to explain his point, though without linking to charts and graphs showing the cumulative hospitalizations, statistics that could have resolved the discussion.

“Media is the voice to the public. They control what people hear and see,” Curry noted.

“Reporting rising cases is fair and accurate. Suggesting people are sick and in ICU is not,” the Mayor said, offering a non-sequitur worthy of close political ally Gov. Ron DeSantis.

“New York went through hell and media celebrated the response,” Curry said.

“We work our butts off with data and experts to not experience that hell. Nothing is certain but media has a responsibility to be accurate and balanced about what is happening on the ground,” Curry added, in his fourth and final tweet of the sequence.

At least one local reporter saw Curry’s tweets as an invitation to dialogue.

“What specific reporting are you referring to and can you please provide the daily hospitalization numbers you are referencing for the past two weeks,” asked veteran Action News Jax reporter Ben Becker.

“I’d also like to see ex of ‘local or national media’ Jax hospitalization articles you’re referring to that you’re taking issue with. It’ll help us better understand,” added Emily Bloch of the Florida Times-Union.

Curry’s response? A RT of someone not in the media or the conversation.

“Don’t you work for the news … how bout do your job and investigate like a real journalist. since when does journalism get to only ask other people to do their work. how about go to the hospitals and ask them directly.#DoYourJob we need truths, not lies,” opined local videographer Eric Kirkman.

The Mayor replied, saying Becker is “not a serious person so he won’t and likely can’t answer your question.”

Curry, a former chair of the Republican Party of Florida, is no stranger to spats with the press corps over one issue or another.

However, the attacks on media this time may be higher stakes, with the city preparing to host the Republican National Convention in two months and a national spotlight on Jacksonville that has not been present since the city’s ill-fated hosting of a Super Bowl over a decade ago.

Previously in the coronacrisis, Curry took issue with national coverage of the city’s response, with his frankest public commentary on the subject being in front of a Congressional committee.

Curry, excoriated nationally for reopening local beaches before some wanted, also got to get in some shots at national reports.

“I did the best I could to ignore the national media,” Curry said, but that clearly didn’t work.

“The death march is coming to Jacksonville,” was how Curry summed up the national media take as beaches opened, saying the city was painted as “a bunch of morons.”

Curry clearly isn’t ignoring the media now. And the media isn’t ignoring him, making this parlous dynamic one to watch in the weeks ahead, with positive tests reaching daily highs that didn’t seem possible just weeks ago when the Mayor was pushing the Governor to allow Jacksonville to get “back to business” in an expedited fashion.

DeSantis spent much of the spring blasting the media for questioning his official narrative, and the results have been mixed. The administration was so worried about the spike in COVID-19 rates that he had a rare Saturday afternoon news conference to assure people that the disease isn’t as much a concern with recently infected people, as they are younger and more resilient in the face of the disease’s onslaught.

Curry, in baiting the media, seems to be betting there will be no blowback. And if the spike in cases isn’t a leading indicator of stresses on ICU beds and hospital capacity, he may be right.

But in the meantime, the world is watching Jacksonville.

Don't you work for the news…how bout do your job and investigate like a real journalist..since when does journalism get to only ask other people to do their work..how about go to the hospitals and ask them directly.#DoYourJob we need truths not lies

— cameraguy (@duvalcameraman) June 22, 2020

2. Any local or national media headline leading people to believe that masses are getting sick and hospitalized from COVID in Jacksonville is not true and is irresponsible reporting.

— Lenny Curry (@lennycurry) June 22, 2020

4. We work our butts off with data and experts to not experience that hell. Nothing is certain but media has a responsibility to be accurate and balanced about what is happening on the ground.

— Lenny Curry (@lennycurry) June 22, 2020