The Miami Herald slammed Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., for working with a "fake news site" on Tuesday, after the governor’s campaign committee spent thousands of dollars on fundraising help from the popular conservative political satire site The Babylon Bee.
In the April 5 piece headlined, "DeSantis calls out ‘fake news,’ but his campaign used fake news site to raise cash," The Herald attempted to point out the alleged hypocrisy of the DeSantis administration opposing fake news while endorsing a website that writes joke headlines and articles to make satirical points.
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In this photo from Feb. 24, 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis delivers remarks at the 2022 CPAC conference at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando. (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images) (Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The piece stated, "In messages to supporters, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis isn’t shy about labeling ‘fake news media’ the enemy.
"But when it comes to raising money for his re-election bid, the Republican governor’s campaign and an associated political committee have sought help from a satire website with the tagline ‘Fake news you can trust.’"
The publication reported that the governor’s campaign committee as well as the "associated Friends of Ron DeSantis political action committee" paid The Bee $15,000 for "services related to online fundraising, according to state campaign finance records."
It added that these two committees are the only political committees that have paid The Babylon Bee for fundraising help.
While The Herald explained that campaign committees paying advocacy groups in such a way "isn’t uncommon," the outlet struck the tone that because The Bee creates content that isn’t accurate at face-value and jokes that it is "fake news," that means the DeSantis campaign is receiving help from "fake news."
Seth Dillon said it’s "pretty obvious" that the Bee is a satirical site but big tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter have created policies to police publications and websites that "go after the wrong targets."
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Critics on Twitter mocked The Herald for not understanding the difference.
Conservative writer Ed Morrissey tweeted, "This is simply embarrassing, @MiamiHerald. The Babylon Bee is a humor-satire site, not ‘fake news.’ They aren't purporting to be ‘news’ at all, which makes your report ‘fake news’ all on its own. See the difference? If not, maybe you should stick with self-parody from now on."
"The Babylon Bee is a parody site... The Miami Herald is a bunch of lies and propaganda presented as news. There's a difference," said political comedian Tim Young.
DeSantis Press Secretary Christina Pushaw tweeted, "Miami Bird Cage Liner is upset that satire website @TheBabylonBee is more popular than their fake news," while National Republican Senatorial Committee communications director Chris Hartline said, "This is AMAZING. The Miami Herald is trying to make sure DeSantis wins in a landslide."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addresses a joint session of a legislative session, Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022, in Tallahassee, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack) (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack)
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In June of last year, The Bee won a fight against The New York Times after the Grey Lady claimed The Bee "trafficked in misinformation." The Times issued a correction and admitted the site simply publishes satire.
The Babylon Bee has also been punished by social media for its satire in the past. Twitter recently suspended the outlet from its platform for a tweet which claimed that Assistant HHS Secretary Rachel Levine had been named the site’s "Man of the Year." The Bee refused to delete the tweet in order to regain access to their account and remains locked out.