NBC News reporter Marc Caputo laid into the news media for inaccurately dubbing Florida’s Parental Rights in Education act the “don’t say gay” bill, noting that the legislation doesn’t say “don’t say gay,” but bans the instruction on sexual orientation and so-called gender identity for kindergarten through third grade students in the state.
“While legislative intent does matter, what does also matter, when you challenge legislation, is you first have to look at the four corners of the document, and see what it actually says,” Caputo said on the air, referring to the Parental Rights in Education Act.
“The bill does not say, ‘don’t say gay,’” he explained. “It says, don’t teach about these issues, in general. So, you know, the reality is, ‘don’t say gay’ is technically not an accurate description.”
Caputo noted of a reporter who pressed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on the bill and was smacked down by the governor, presumably for inaccurately framing the bill.
“[DeSantis] bit your head off,” Caputo told the fellow reporter. “He sees an opportunity here for the news media to not live up to its own standards.”
The reporter highlighted the Left’s “efforts” to call out so-called “lies” from from former President Donald Trump, but are not doing so with the Florida bill.
“We made a big deal during Trump years, and rightfully so, and critics did, that the news media needs to start calling lies lies, and be very clear if something was baseless, was without fact, was supported or not supported by evidence or without evidence, and if something was false, we’d say he falsely stated it,” Caputo said.
“Well, to say this actually says ‘don’t say gay’ is false,” he asserted.
“For us to say, ‘oh, the “don’t say gay” bill,’ that would be a similar thing — similar, not exactly the same — of us during Obamacare saying, ‘Oh, well the Obamacare bill is the “death panel bill,” because that’s what the opponents call it.’ Well, it wasn’t the ‘death panel bill,’” Caputo said.
“And, again, when you read the four corners of this document, it doesn’t say, ‘don’t say gay,’” the NBC reporter emphasized.
The Florida Senate earlier this month passed the Parental Rights in Education bill, which would “ban teachers in kindergarten through third grade from providing instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation, require schools to notify parents if there has been any change in a student’s physical, emotional, or mental wellbeing, and would also provide legal recourse to parents to sue if they believe a school has violated any of those agreements,” The Daily Wire reported. “It would also teachers to withhold certain information from parents if there is a ‘reasonable’ belief notifying them would result in abuse.”
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Source: Dailywire
