The Capitolist is a Florida-based news outlet created by Brian Burgess in 2016. It was revealed to be funded by "dark money" beginning in 2018 connected to Florida Power & Light (FPL) in 2022. This allowed FPL to request articles that would promote candidates, discourage deregulation, and attack reporters critical of FPL.[1][2][3]
| Type | News website |
|---|---|
| Founder(s) | Brian Burgess |
| Founded | 2016 |
| Website | thecapitolist |
Payments from FPL have funded The Capitolist since at least January 2018, through Matrix LLC, Metis Group LLC, and other consulting companies. Matrix LLC created fake candidates to influence state senate races in Florida in 2020, which led to discovery of their connection to The Capitolist. After "operatives" for Matrix took control of The Capitolist in 2019, email records showed "Matrix operatives and Florida Power and Light executives dictating Capitolist coverage."[1][4][5]
References
edit- ^ a b Sarah Blaskey (25 July 2022). "Powerbrokers: How FPL secretly took over a Florida news site and used it to bash critics". Miami Herald. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
- ^ Jason Garcia; Anne Martin (30 December 2021). "Florida's dark money playbook: How 'ghost' candidate scheme revealed secretive political tactics". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
- ^ Molly Taft (27 July 2022). "Florida's Most Powerful Utility Reportedly Paid a News Site to Spread Propaganda". Gizmodo. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
The documents reviewed by both news outlets show that the editor of the Capitolist, Brian Burgess, who once worked as the communications director for Florida's former Republican Gov. Rick Scott, gets his paycheck (a cool $12,000 a month—so that's how you make journalism profitable!) entirely from shell companies controlled by FPL's consultants. The utility made sure it got what it paid for: The outlets report that FPL consultants were able to "pre-screen" articles published on the Capitolist, with the ability to both order articles written on certain topics and change details down to the headlines and content of the pieces. The Capitolist never disclosed its financial relationship with FPL either in its stories or on its website.
- ^ Anne Martin; Mario Alejandro Ariza (25 July 2022). "Firm working for FPL took control of news site, let execs influence coverage, records show". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
- ^ "Leaked: US power companies secretly spending millions to protect profits and fight clean energy". The Guardian. 27 July 2022. Retrieved 28 July 2022.
Matrix also exerted political influence through the press, with its operatives acquiring control of a Tallahassee-based politics news site, The Capitolist. That gave Matrix consultants and FPL executives input on Capitolist stories.