TVNewser's Mark Joyella spotlighted in a Wednesday post [1] how MSNBC managing editor Ilyas Kirmani, the former executive producer [2] for Tamron Hall's NewsNation program, reacted with disgust to the reelection of the Sunshine State's attorney general, Republican Pam Bondi. Kirmani posted the word, "Gross," on a Facebook thread started by Miguel Fernandez, an executive producer at CBS's Miami affiliate, WFOR.
Fernandez expressed his own dismay in a single word on the lead comment on the thread: "ugh! TALLAHASSEE Fla. (AP) – Republican incumbent Pam Bondi re-elected as Florida's attorney general". A colleague of the executive producer at WFOR, entertainment reporter Lisa Petrillo, followed Kirmani's lead by writing, "Yuck."
Despite this strong reaction, Petrillo lamented about the election in general in a Monday post [3] on Twitter: "As #Election2014 approaches all I can think of is how unexcited I am about the candidates. #FloridaBallot."
The liberal journalists could be responding to the fact the Bondi ran on a social conservative platform. Allison Neilsen of Sunshine State News pointed out in her Tuesday article [4] about the Republican's victory that her opponent, Democrat George Sheldon, "vehemently opposed Florida's same-sex marriage ban, while Bondi vowed to defend the ban." She continued that "Bondi, who served as a prosecutor before making a run for AG, also came out heavily against the legalization of medical marijuana."
Neilsen also noted in her write-up that "the New York Times shone a light on Bondi in a story about lobbyists targeting state attorneys general."
— Matthew Balan is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Matthew Balan on Twitter. [5]