Cleveland Newspaper Praised For Editorial Slamming Vance, DeSantis Rally’s ‘Free Speech-Trampling Rules’

Alex GriffingAug 23rd, 2022, 6:47 pm
 

Ron DeSantis

Chris Quinn, the editor of Cleveland.com and Ohio’s The Plain Dealer, shredded GOP candidate for Senate J.D. Vance and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) in a now-viral editorial lambasting the rules for press coverage at their Friday rally.

Quinn noted in his now widely shared article, “our reporters were not there because of ridiculous restrictions that DeSantis and Vance placed on anyone covering the event.”

“The worst of the rules was one prohibiting reporters from interviewing attendees not first approved by the organizers of the event for DeSantis and Vance. When we cover events, we talk to anyone we wish. It’s America, after all, the land of free speech,” Quinn wrote before throwing some more strongly worded jabs into the mix.

“At least that’s America as it exists today. Maybe not the America that would exist under DeSantis and Vance,” he continued, adding:

Think about what they were doing here. They were staging an event to rally people to vote for Vance while instituting the kinds of policies you’d see in a fascist regime. A wannabe U.S. Senator, and maybe a wannabe president.

Quinn then went on to describe other restrictions the rally’s organizers put on press at the event.

“Another over-the-top rule was one reserving the right to receive copies of any video shot of the event for promotional use. That’s never okay. News agencies are independent of the political process. We do not provide our work product to anyone for promotional use. To do so would put us in league with people we cover, destroying our credibility,” Quinn added.

He went on to note another rule demanded the organizers, Turning Point Action, “know in what manner any footage of the event would be used.”

“We are news people. We use footage on news platforms. But this rule set up a situation in which reporters could be grilled on their intentions,” Quinn explained, adding:

I’m scratching my head over one other rule, one that prohibited reporters from entering the hotel rooms of any attendees of the event. If someone invites a reporter into a hotel room for an interview, what’s the harm?

“Anyway, we didn’t accept the limitations, because they end up skewing the facts. If we can speak only with attendees chosen by the candidate, we don’t get a true accounting of what people thought of the event. You get spin from the most ardent supporters,” Quinn concluded.

Quinn ended the editorial with a jab at Vance and a reminder regarding the office Vance seeks.

“Vance, who wants to be your senator, who wants to take an oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States. You know. The document that says Congress shall make no laws abridging the freedom of the press,” he wrote.

Quinn’s editorial received praise among members of the media and free speech advocates.

MSNBC host and longtime Middle East correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin shared the editorial on Twitter, writing, “It’s not hyperbolic to say this is the behavior of dictatorships. When I was covering the Middle East we were restricted by autocratic governments to where we could go and with whom we could speak to on the streets. The GOP is now doing this in America.”

Podcaster Aaron Dalton noted the lack of a photo on the editorial, writing, “Not pictured here are Ohio U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.”

Other members of the media and free speech advocates shared quotes from the article or simply praised Quinn for spreading the message.

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Alex Griffing - Senior Editor

Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing