Gabrielle Russon accolade is latest evidence new media is beating legacy media

If you’ve traveled to Europe since the EU implemented its General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), you likely have not been able to read several major U.S. newspapers, including the LA Times and the New York Post.

This may not seem like a major problem, because if you are traveling in Paris, you should be standing in line to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre or elbowing your way through the crowds to throw coins in Rome’s Trevi Fountain. It’s probably even a good thing for you to disconnect from all the domestic chaos.

However, if you’re a European planning a sojourn to the States, it’s a safe bet you might like to read the local newspaper at the city or cities you plan to visit. I know I do.

Before I travel to my favorite places (for me it’s New York City and Las Vegas), I check out the restaurant reviews in The New York Times. I read up on what’s opening and closing on the Strip in Vegas. I take a few minutes to see if there is some local happening I need to take in — or, just as possible, avoid. And as I do this, I am bombarded with ads from local businesses, most of which I ignore, but some I occasionally click through.

This model is the very definition of how a good newspaper should work.

But not the Orlando Sentinel. For whatever reason, its bosses have decided not to comply with GDPR, even though I bet they are losing tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of clicks on their site.

There’s no city that more Europeans travel to than Orlando, home of Disney World and Universal. But thanks to short-sighted leadership decisions, if travelers want to check out the hometown paper, the Orlando Sentinel, the GDPR essentially blocks them from doing so. Same goes for those looking to visit South Florida, because the Sun-Sentinel cannot be accessed either.

This all brings me to Gabrielle Russon, the former tourism beat reporter at the Sentinel. In that newspaper’s infinite wisdom, they offered Gabrielle, along with the rest of its staff, a buyout offer as part of cost-cutting measures.

Now if there is one beat reporter who should NOT be offered a buyout, it’s the journalist who covers tourism in the tourism capital of the country. Sure, there could have been other specific reasons to part ways with Gabrielle, but being familiar with the situation, I am confident there weren’t.

This is just how most newspaper bosses ru(i)n their operations. It wasn’t long after the Sentinel lost Gabrielle that it lost its best political reporter, Gray Rohrer, because of its own inability to not trip on its own two feet.

The moment I heard Gabrielle was a free agent, I reached out to her to see if she wanted/needed work. As the late, great media critic for The New York Times, David Carr, once noted, anytime one of us new media jack-offs can rub two nickels together, we spend it on hiring legacy media reporters. Carr’s observation is cynical, but true.

My rationale for bringing Gabrielle aboard was part of what I’ve always done: run Florida Politics similar to how the Tampa Bay Rays run their baseball club (how the Rays are trying to build a new stadium is another matter).

Mix promising young talent (Ana Ceballos, Renzo Downey, Jason Delgado) with veteran reporters who were being underutilized in their legacy media roles (Jim Rosica, Christine Sexton). Then take players/reporters with enormous talent, but in the wrong position and shape them into front-liners (Jacob Ogles, Jesse Scheckner). Add in chemistry players like A.G. Gancarski and you can compete with teams/newsrooms with bigger payrolls and profiles.

I’ve been playing Moneyball journalism for more than a decade and I deeply believe it’s working out, maybe now more so than ever.

The latest proof of this success is that Gabrielle is one of three finalists for the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sunshine State Award for Journalist of the Year.

Mind you, my unofficial policy is really not to compete in award competitions like these, mostly because our Florida Politics coverage model does not always fit neatly into the standard categories these organizations have been recognizing for years. Our new media square peg does not fit into their legacy media round holes.

I also, admittedly, do a subpar job of staying on top of the work we produce so that it can be submitted for consideration. I’m pretty sure our work in the various election reporting categories, as well as other categories (commentary, obituaries, etc.) would merit some consideration.

So when Gabrielle approached me and explained the importance of our site needing to submit for these awards as part of a larger effort to demonstrate our value to our readers, I told her to go with God. And now here we are.

What’s amazing about Gabrielle is the breadth of her coverage. Yes, she covers tourism and business development, but this being a site about Florida politics, we’ve had to convert her into a political reporter in short order. Quick study would be an understatement.

And in Florida, especially recently, tourism is politics.

So Gabby has been covering the newly created Board governing the Special District containing Disney World. She’s been tracking the budget plan to redirect money normally spent on tourism development to property tax relief. She’s uncovered scandals at Hope Florida and the Orange County Supervisor of Elections.

Her work is also “great for clicks” as she birddogs all of those weird injury lawsuits that spring out of someone suing Disney because their Dole Whip wasn’t cold enough or whatever other litigious nonsense pops up.

Gabrielle is so good at her job, she has cost me the most money in legal fees over the past year because of some lunatic’s misunderstanding of the First Amendment. We’re being sued for defamation in a case I know we will eventually prevail (because our reporting is based on, you know, the truth). Frivolous or not, defending these types of suits still costs not insignificant money. But Gabrielle is worth it. Just like our whole team is worth it.

And speaking of money, this is the type of person Gabrielle Russon is: I offer bonuses to our reporters if they work outside of normal hours on certain barrages of stories. For example, when the budget committees release their proposals, I’ll bonus $50-$75 for every solid story about an interesting nugget in the budget. If there’s $2 million stashed away for a caviar farm in north Florida and the reporter is giving up their downtime to cast a line on this story, the least I can do is buy them dinner.

But that’s not what Gabrielle wanted. After I made this offer during a recent night when the budget offers were flying, she wrote to me, “Hey Peter, I’ll be honest. It makes me uncomfortable to ask you for bonuses. You pay me a good monthly rate and I understand during busy times like this, I need to step it up. I can take a breather in less busy times or when I’m dead!”

Keep in mind, Gabrielle recently had a beautiful set of twin babies to add to her family. If anyone on my team deserves money for diapers, it’s Gabrielle.

But that’s the type of character Gabrielle Russon possesses. It’s mind-boggling to me that the Orlando Sentinel let go of this incredible person. Her value far outweighs her cost, and her situation is part of the reason why I don’t believe journalism is dying. It’s just that the legacy media aspect of it is being (mostly) run by soulless idiots. It’s why great reporters are fleeing to Substack. Or independent outlets like Florida Politics.

Their losses are our gains. And in Gabrielle Russon, Florida Politics made a tremendous gain.

Thank you, Gab, and congrats on this honor.