Introduction

Ron DeSantis has been a controversial topic during political discussion for a large part
of America ever since his rise to popularity in his term as Florida governor during the
Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. In the time DeSantis has been a prominent figure in
mainstream media, he has found himself in many controversies, yet none of them
manage to make a splash on its conception or drag on for as long as his legal feud with
Disney. It started with the governor’s “Don’t say gay” bill, which was criticized by many
including then Disney CEO Bob Cheapek. (Jiménez & Barnes, 2022) In response,
DeSantis stripped Disney of its special district, to which Disney launched another
lawsuit against the governor, accusing him of a "campaign to weaponize government
power" and request the judge to revert the change. Now, even though it continues to
drag on, the conflict has lost the interest of the general public, but with the 2024
presidential election on the horizon this legal battle will likely be brought back as an
argument for or against DeSantis. With an investigation into how the subject has been
reported and talked about, it can become clear whether it makes an argument for or
against the sunshine’s state governor in the eyes of the public when the time comes.
The use of online sources such as newspapers, discussion forums, and youtube videos
provide useful throughout the investigation in providing evidence for how the legal feud
would have likely affected Ron DeSantis’s image in the eyes of voters.

A, Context

Ronald Dion DeSantis is an American politician serving since 2019 as the 46th governor
of Florida. A member of the Republican Party, and who is a leading figure in the
conservative movement (Tikkanen, 2023). DeSantis presented himself as a more
controversies-free, more competent replacement to ex-president Trump, who by then
was constantly in hot water with severe allegations at him. Many conservatives and
republican news sources welcome him with open arms, constantly giving him free
coverage during his popularity peak, making Florida the center of the Republican party
(Narea, 2023).

During the pandemic era, Ron's political popularity increased after he began publishing
his political advertising on his YouTube profile. In those tapes, DeSantis generally
assumed an annoyed tone throughout these conversations, answering the press as
though they were wasting his time (Wallace-Wells, 2023). DeSantis portrays himself as
a powerful leader in complete control of the situation, a Trump-like candidate without all
the controversy that many conservatives find appealing (Bruton et al., 2023).

B, Representation

According to Goffman, who developed the framing theory first, "framing" is the process
by which the media highlights particular occurrences and situates them within a larger
context of meaning (Arowolo , 2017). Based on the theory, people's perceptions of a
subject can be influenced by the way the media presents it, the words it uses to
describe it, the tone in which it discusses it, and even the material it chooses to include
or omit.

After the lawsuit was made public, many articles were immediately published on the
subject with many expressing confusion with the decision made, as most do not
understand why the governor would create a feud with the county's largest employer.
Yet many Republicans continue to voice his support for him through platforms such as
Fox News, whose host mocked Disney as “Woke Disney”, and go so far as to accuse
Disney of pushing their “not-so secret gay agenda” (Nelson, 2022). The new source
constantly paints Ron as a courageous man with conviction who defends American
children from the ‘woke’ mob and social justice warrior.

Nelson, A. (2022) ‘Fox & Friends’ sounds off on Disney’s Woke Agenda, opposition to desantis: ‘this is
not a gray area’, Fox News.

As the lawsuit continues to drag on and the threat of unemployment for many
republicans in Florida continues to loom, the tone of these republicans' new sources
begin to change. Fox news for example, have been slowing down on their DeSantis
support, even calling his legal battle with Disney “an obsession” (Redmond, 2023).
While painting him as a terrible negotiator, here the image of a firm leader Fox news
constantly pushed during the start of the lawsuit became a stubborn man-child who will
hurt everyone to get his way. Where DeSantis' clean réume has been a foil to Trump's
constant controversy, now he has an inferior comparison for Trump’s reputation as a
master negotiator. This change of tune can also be attributed to Mike Pence’s and
Trump’s, both respected and admired figures in their community, comments on the
situation. While generally agreeing with DeSantis position, they criticized him for not
only dragging the lawsuit out, but also potentially jeopardizing his voter base
employment.
 Redmond, M. (2023) Even Fox News is getting sick of Ron Desantis’ Dumb War with Disney,
UPROXX.

Other more often left-leaning new sources on the other hand, openly criticized his
decision, claiming that he had traded Florida’s economy and his 2024 election
campaign for a “personal and petty” conflict (Narea, 2023).

Ramirez, N.M. (2023) Ron DeSantis’ bizarre feud with Disney, explained, Rolling Stone.

C, Organization and audience

Disney is one of the main participants of the legal battle with Desantis in Florida, and as
a result they have high stakes in the battle. If DeSantis continues to strip Disney of its
special privilege and further the hostility between the two, Disney may have to move
their business to a different state, forgoing the tremendous amount of investment they
have already put into Florida, as well as laying off a major amount of their task force.
Even if they decide not to leave, the lack of special privilege would directly result in their
loss of profit and less control on how their business works, and there's no telling how far
DeSantis is willing to go (Petri, 2023). All of this provide Disney with incentive to
discredit DeSantis, coincidently Disney themself is also a major entertainment company,
with multiple media outlets under its wings such as ABC network or Vice (Alexander,
2023), one of which is considered a generally trusted new source by both left and right
leaning voters as sources for political news (Gramlich, 2020). Vice in particular have
taken a firm stance against DeSantis with headlines such as “Disney Sues DeSantis for
Violating Its Free Speech Rights” (Koebler, 2023). They have also produced an episode
claiming DeSantis have knowledge about the torture practice in Guantanamo Bay, but the
episode have been pulled and is currently under review (Cobb, 2023).

Gramlich, J. (2020) 5 facts about Fox News, Pew Research Center.

Other left-leaning new sources have been surprisingly small amounts of articles
presenting an opinionated view of the situation, with most presenting a matter of fact
view about the situation. This might be because Democrat voters are nowhere near
invested in “woke” culture war politics as their Republican counterpart (Romano, 2023).
This difference could be an effect of years of major Republicans pushing major culture
war issues to the forefront of their political campaign forcing outlets to cover those
stories if they want to be in front of their competitors.
 Romano, A. (2023) New poll: Is desantis’s war on ‘woke’ disney falling flat?, Yahoo! News..

Fox News have been DeSantis biggest supporters, before Trump himself condemned
DeSantis legal feud. Fox news is a right-wing news source which caters to a subset of
right-wing audiences, those who are interested in following culture wars news. There
have been debates arguing whether Fox news should even be considered a new
source, with some scholars arguing that the channel is a propagandist machine for the
republican party (Bauer et al., 2021). The reason most cited for this is Fox’s heavily
biased viewpoint that they portray their news through, one especially egregious
example is the article “Why Desantis’ Disney fight matters”. The article read in a bitter
and agitated tone, portraying Desantis in a positive light as a larger-than-life character
who, in contrast to other "pet Republicans," has the courage to resist oppression.

Rubin, D. (2023) Why Ron DeSantis’ disney fight matters, Fox News.

Moreover, the article also employs multiple fear mongering techniques, one of them “us
vs them” mentality, turning the legal feud between DeSantis and Disney into a culture
war between them, Republicans, and a generalized undefined “woke mob”. By using
these techniques, they attempt to make the audience more paranoid and less rational in
their decision making, making the audience easier to sway or manipulate.
Links to other articles are also strewn throughout, enticing the reader to read and further
submerge themselves in the "right-wing media ecosystem," which is nothing more than
an echo chamber where their opinions are affirmed and never questioned. The more the
audience immerse themself in such an environment the less willing they are to accept
information from outside the chamber. (Bauer et al., 2021). This makes the audience
more likely to suffer cognitive dissonance, a theory that suggests that people will try to
minimize or ignore information that contradicts their beliefs, regardless of how accurate
it may be (Tueanrat & Alamanos, 2023). Resulting in them being more emotional and
thus harder for them to make decisions wisely.

D, Consequences

In a Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted in April 2023, not even a mere month after
DeSantis's legal dispute, 44% of Republican participants stated that DeSantis's battle
with Disney had enhanced their perception of him. Nonetheless, 73% of respondents—
including 82% of Democrats and 63% of Republicans—said they would be less likely to
back a political candidate who backs legislation that would penalize a company for its
cultural or political views. (Reuters/Ipsos poll: Disney vs. desantis 2023).
 Reuters/Ipsos poll: Disney vs. desantis 2023

The poll showed that DeSantis got what he wanted, more support from the Republican
party, but his popularity was eroding overall while Disney’s perception still remained
positive in many voters' eyes.

Conclusion

DeSantis' legal feud with Disney was met with mixed reaction, with most of his support
coming from fellow Republicans, especially the right-wing media outlet such as Fox
news, whose coverage helped his popularity skyrocketed. Over time, the mainstream
media lost interest in the court case, and many began to criticize his decision to carry on
with the feud—rending the Florida economy for a cultural war that most voters don't
really care about. Making the wrong enemy, DeSantis targeted the biggest employer in
the state in an effort to win over a vocal but small segment of Republicans who are
devoted to and supportive of Trump. In other words, in a political stunt made to garner
support from the Republican party, DeSantis misjudged Disney power and put himself in
an unpopular and an unwinnable dispute. Despite the strong pushes for him in multiple
right-wing outlets in the start of the feud, it wasn't nearly enough for him to take
advantage of the situation, and ended up painting himself as an obsessive, short
sighted, petty and weak strategist and leader.

References
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