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Subscribers to Sunburn, an email newsletter for Florida’s political class, got a chuckle one day not long ago out of a little scoop: A state legislator was making money on the side driving for Uber.
Sunburn is the work of Peter Schorsch, a conservative political consultant and controversial blogger who has become, in recent years, a micro-media mogul. The plugged-in Schorsch regularly gets scooplets and scuttlebutt for his clutch of media outlets, which also include FloridaPolitics.com, a news site; ContextFlorida.com, an opinion site; and the local blog that started it all, SaintPetersBlog.com. In a reverse evolution, Schorsch has also recently rolled out a slick print magazine, Influence, which he acknowledges is a “vanity publication” for lobbyists and Tallahassee insiders.
Along the way, Schorsch has built up a strong advertising base in the politics world, even as established media face steady advertising declines. Though he says he is not a journalist, he increasingly hires people who made their careers at traditional outlets.
He has also drawn the ire, and sometimes the I-Team, of one of those outlets, and of politicos who claim he uses his various platforms to regurgitate press releases for his advertisers and to unfairly skewer his clients’ opponents.
It’s a complicated profile that yields widely varying assessments, depending on who you ask.
“In a lot of ways, what he’s doing is a glorified PR agency, with a lot of press releases and borrowed photos and a bit of news,” said Jeff Testerman, a retired investigative reporter for the Tampa Bay Times, who Schorsch once banned from commenting on his blog. “It’s clear to me that if you pay him, you get positive coverage and if you do not, he comes after you, sometimes on almost trumped-up charges. This man has never met a conflict of interest that he didn’t embrace.”
Marc Caputo, a reporter for Politico Florida—who was on the verge of breaking the Uber story when Schorsch beat him to the punch—has a different outlook. “I respect him as my opponent,” Caputo said. “While newspapers have cut back their coverage of politics, he has filled the gap. A lot of good journalists I respect and two I strongly recommended we hire came through his shop.”
“What I think is kind of fun about watching Peter grow is he has the moxie and swagger and hunger of one of these old-time newspaper publishers,” said Caputo, who, in the weird merry-go-round that is political reporting in Florida, was profiled by Schorsch in the current edition of Influence. “There are some people who have concerns about Peter being transactional. He’s up front that he doesn’t play by the rules of journalists, but if he doesn’t tell the journalists working for him what to write, what’s the difference?” (Full disclosure: Caputo and I were colleagues at The Miami Herald, and I’ve worked with or for many of the people quoted or mentioned in this story.)
Florida micro-media mogul breaks news, but is it journalism?
If you pay him you get coverage---positive coverage. So, it's extortion.
Sunburn is the work of Peter Schorsch, a conservative political consultant and controversial blogger who has become, in recent years, a micro-media mogul. The plugged-in Schorsch regularly gets scooplets and scuttlebutt for his clutch of media outlets, which also include FloridaPolitics.com, a news site; ContextFlorida.com, an opinion site; and the local blog that started it all, SaintPetersBlog.com. In a reverse evolution, Schorsch has also recently rolled out a slick print magazine, Influence, which he acknowledges is a “vanity publication” for lobbyists and Tallahassee insiders.
Along the way, Schorsch has built up a strong advertising base in the politics world, even as established media face steady advertising declines. Though he says he is not a journalist, he increasingly hires people who made their careers at traditional outlets.
He has also drawn the ire, and sometimes the I-Team, of one of those outlets, and of politicos who claim he uses his various platforms to regurgitate press releases for his advertisers and to unfairly skewer his clients’ opponents.
It’s a complicated profile that yields widely varying assessments, depending on who you ask.
“In a lot of ways, what he’s doing is a glorified PR agency, with a lot of press releases and borrowed photos and a bit of news,” said Jeff Testerman, a retired investigative reporter for the Tampa Bay Times, who Schorsch once banned from commenting on his blog. “It’s clear to me that if you pay him, you get positive coverage and if you do not, he comes after you, sometimes on almost trumped-up charges. This man has never met a conflict of interest that he didn’t embrace.”
Marc Caputo, a reporter for Politico Florida—who was on the verge of breaking the Uber story when Schorsch beat him to the punch—has a different outlook. “I respect him as my opponent,” Caputo said. “While newspapers have cut back their coverage of politics, he has filled the gap. A lot of good journalists I respect and two I strongly recommended we hire came through his shop.”
“What I think is kind of fun about watching Peter grow is he has the moxie and swagger and hunger of one of these old-time newspaper publishers,” said Caputo, who, in the weird merry-go-round that is political reporting in Florida, was profiled by Schorsch in the current edition of Influence. “There are some people who have concerns about Peter being transactional. He’s up front that he doesn’t play by the rules of journalists, but if he doesn’t tell the journalists working for him what to write, what’s the difference?” (Full disclosure: Caputo and I were colleagues at The Miami Herald, and I’ve worked with or for many of the people quoted or mentioned in this story.)
Florida micro-media mogul breaks news, but is it journalism?
If you pay him you get coverage---positive coverage. So, it's extortion.
