News/Commentary

‘Journoactivist’ caught on hot mic claiming her job is to make Gov DeSantis ‘uncomfortable’

February 17, 2023 | | Print Article

First Coast News reporter Atyia Collins, who is a local reporter in Florida, got caught on a hot mic claiming that her job is to make Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) feel “uncomfortable” and she was called out for it by his Rapid Response Director Christina Pushaw who savaged her for it.

The hot mic moment occurred during a livestream of an event attended by DeSantis in Jacksonville. Collins was overheard speaking with someone about her role at the press conference.

“No, my job is to ask the tough questions and make him uncomfortable, I guess,” Collins asserted, according to Fox News.

Later during the conversation, Collins discussed how her web manager urged her to “just run up to him” as he comes off the stage and “just yell questions at him,” which she didn’t think would work.

“He already doesn’t like the media,” the reporter stated during the conversation.

“Next time make sure you aren’t speaking into a hot mic while you wait to ‘make him uncomfortable,'” Pushaw tweeted, calling out the “journoactivist.”

Pushaw later tweeted, “A journalist’s job is to tell the truth. Of course, speaking truth to power can make the powerful uncomfortable, but ‘discomfort’ shouldn’t be the goal — the goal should be revealing the truth. Pushing biased narratives with the express goal to create discomfort isn’t journalism.”

Later, DeSantis would go on to take questions from reporters. Collins decided that would be a good time to try and corner him on the “emptied” school bookshelves in Duval County following his administration’s guidelines that ban pornographic material from children’s books. She referred to a viral video from last month and DeSantis brushed it off as a “fake narrative.”

“This is trying to create some narrative as if that — they hadn’t even put the books out yet to begin with, so there’s no need for all of that stuff. What they’re trying to do is they’re trying to act like somehow, you know, we don’t want books,” DeSantis adamantly stated.

One person responded to Pushaw that they were being too hard on Collins. She disagreed… strenuously.

“You guys are going too hard on her. What she said isn’t a big deal. A journo’s job is to ask uncomfortable questions. Was she more pushing a narrative than speaking truth to power? Yes, but challenge the narrative, not the individual reporter, especially not a small press local,” Ray Downs tweeted.

“You know, I’d agree with this EXCEPT for the fact that the legacy media is constantly punching down. They attack staffers all the time and attempt to get us fired & ruin our reputations so we lose our livelihoods. All bc today journos are partisan activists who hate conservatives,” Pushaw responded.

For good measure, she went on about biased leftist activism in journalism.

“So no, I don’t feel sorry for any journalist who openly behaves like a Democrat activist. No matter how young she is or what media outlet she works for. It’s all unethical and has divided our country to the point of no return,” she continued.

“I can only hope that @Atyia_Collins sees the light and turns it around because she has her whole career ahead of her. If she wants to do journalism she can reconsider her tactics & stop working for unethical ppl. If she wants to be a political activist she can work for @FlaDems,” Pushaw concluded.

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