Stephen King Apologizes After Being Duped by Salon Headline Claiming DeSantis Registering Teachers’ Political Views: ‘I Will Try to Do Better’

Zachary LeemanJul 8th, 2022, 12:23 pm
 

Stephen King Apologizes for False Tweet About Ron DeSantis

Novelist Stephen King and other outspoken liberals were duped recently by a Salon headline that falsely claimed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) was requiring teachers and professors to register their political viewpoints with the state.

The headline and article were originally published in June of 2021, meaning the false headline sat dormant for quite some time. It made the rounds again this week as King and others, including Democratic Florida gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried in a since-deleted tweet, shared it.


 

In a fact check for CNN, reporter Daniel Dale reported about DeSantis’ bill:

The 2021 law does require public colleges and universities in Florida to administer annual surveys on the subject of “intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity.” But contrary to the inaccurate initial Salon headline, the law does not require anybody to register their political views. Students and faculty members can decide whether to participate in the surveys, which are anonymous.

Salon executive editor Andrew O’Hehir admitted the original headline “conveyed a misleading impression of what the Florida law actually said, and did not live up to our editorial standards.”

The new headline for the piece reads: “DeSantis signs bill requiring survey of Florida students, professors on their political views.”

In a statement to Dale after the story was published and the Salon headline was changed, the novelist, who has lived in both Maine and Florida, apologized and called Twitter a “learning experience.” King is a vocal critic of DeSantis on a number of issues.

“I regret having posted the headline without being more confident the story was correct. Salon is usually more reliable. Twitter is a constant learning experience, and I will try to do better,” the author said.

DeSantis spokesperson Christina Pushaw suggested Salon reporters had not even read the original bill before publishing their story.

“It’s good to see that Salon finally changed its false headline after the pushback they received yesterday. It should have happened much sooner. Better yet, the Salon reporter and editors should have read the legislation before writing an article about it (a good practice for journalism, in general!),” she said.

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Zachary Leeman

Zachary Leeman covered pop culture and politics at outlets such as Breitbart, LifeZette, BizPac Review, HollywoodinToto, and others. He is the author of the novel Nigh. He joined Mediaite in 2022.