Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law on Thursday imposing new restrictions on voting, such as making it harder to vote by mail and criminalizing the handing out of food and water to people in voting lines.
The governor made the signing of the bill, which would affect millions of voters in his state, a â
Sun-Sentinel columnist Steve Bousquet, allowing only the conservative media outlet to show the signing. DeSantis claimed in an interview with âFox & Friendsâ that the bill was about âintegrity and transparencyâ even though voting rights advocates have decried the measures that make it harder to vote, especially for nonwhite voters.
SUN-SENTINEL VIA AP
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis leaves the site of an appearance, Thursday, May 6, 2021, in West Palm Beach, where he signed a sweeping elections bill into law. The event was closed to the news media except for Fox News.
One of Gov. Ron DeSantis biggest legislative priorities officially became law Thursday morning, when the Republican signed a bill that will create more hurdles for voters in Florida.
The signing would have drawn enough attention, due to the controversial nature of the law there are already two lawsuits calling the measure unconstitutional but how and where DeSantis signed the bill has also drawn sharp criticism and questions over transparency.
When Florida reporters stood outside of the Hilton at Palm Beach International Airport this morning, ready to cover Gov. Ron DeSantis signing of a controversial voting-rights bill, they were told that media outlets would not be permitted inside. As it turned out, DeSantis had given exclusive access to a TV network that has been friendly to his party and to the bill: Fox News.
Confirmed: @CBS12 News is not allowed into the event where @GovRonDeSantis will sign a controversial elections bill into law, per @MadelineTV who is outside.
We were a pool camera, assigned to feed this event to affiliates nationwide.
Thursday s bill signing took place at the Airport Hilton in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Reporters from local and national outlets who showed up to cover the event were turned away, and told that Fox News would be exclusively covering the bill signing. The event was aired solely on Fox & Friends, while all other TV cameras were banned, according to media outlets on the ground. FOX & Friends did not request or mandate that the May 6th event and/or interview with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) be exclusive to FOX News Media entities, a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement to Insider.
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