Why Rick Scott Will Avoid the Media

Brian Crowley must kidding himself if he thinks Rick Scott is going to invite the Tallahassee press corp over for a beer. Scott and many other Republican candidates in the age of the Tea Party went out of their way to ignore the mainstream media. Republican candidates and elected officials can use Fox News, The Weekly Standard, The National Review, RedState.com, and social media to get their message out. Republicans don't want to be asked hard questions and repeat what happened to Rand Paul on Rachel Maddow's show.

It is not the media's job to become pals with Scott. What the media should do is press Scott for answers. Crowley admits the media handled Scott with kid gloves.

Scott violated all of the traditional rules during the campaign. He held few news conferences. He never waivered from his talking points: Question? Hey Rick what time is it? Scott: I made mistakes, I learned from them.

And Scott's campaign strategy of avoiding the media got him elected. Scott has no personality and is horrible the few times he has been interviewed. The last thing Scott wants to do is be interviewed.

Sharron Angle avoided the Nevada media. The media in Nevada aggressively kept pressure on Angle to answer questions on her past controversial statements. The worst thing the media could have done is try to be pals with Angle.

Crowley is looking at Scott as a media consultant and former political reporter. What Crowley fails to understand is that the political landscape has changed. What Crowley is proposing would only hurt journalism coverage of Scott. The Governor-elect has several proposals that will affect schools, jails, growth management and health care in the state. The media should aggressively cover these stories. Drinking beers with Scott isn't going to sell more newspapers or help inform the public.