How the Media Can Sway Public Opinion Regarding the Disney/DeSantis Feud

Inside the Magic

The media is a powerful entity that has the ability to sway public opinion about different topics. It's why different fashion ideas go in and out of fashion, why different recipes blow up each year during the Holiday's, and currently, it's why some people favor Disney or DeSantis during their ongoing feud.

I was inspired to analyze how the media could be affecting public opinion about the Disney/DeSantis feud when seeing an article posted by Inside the Magic, a Disney-centric news outlet I've discussed in a previous article. The title of this article was "Disney Hands Over Cash to Reelect DeSantis Foe" - a title that will make most people disapprove of Disney immediately. The article talks about how Disney donates money to different organizations, and recently this includes political candidates that are running against DeSantis. The way the title is phrased and the wording in the article makes it appear very negative, which is subjective and up to the reader, and makes it seem like Disney is bribing political candidates to be in their favor (again, subjective and up to the reader). It can be very harmful for Disney and its reputation for articles to be written this way, especially ones written by websites committed entirely to Disney news.

This is not a new concept - news outlets have been known to sway the opinion of the public. Especially news outlets such as Fox News or CBS, notoriously right and left-wing news providers. It's important for the public to stay vigilant about what they're reading and to form their own opinions outside of the articles they read.

Universal Studios Impacted by the Disney/DeSantis Feud

Epic Universe (source: Universal Studios)

Orlando, Florida is home to two of the world's biggest and best theme parks - Walt Disney World and Universal Studios. The two parks have avid fans that tend to choose sides for which one they prefer. Both offer roller coasters, dark rides, live entertainment, dining, merchandise, and more. When Universal Studios Orlando built Diagon Alley, a separate expansion to their Harry Potter World, Walt Disney World responded with two immersive unique worlds - Pandora, themed after the movie Avatar, and Galaxy's Edge, themed after the Star Wars franchise. These two companies are competitor's much like McDonald's and Burger King or Kroger and Publix.

This friendly competition does not go unnoticed - the two parks are placed miles within each other, it's obvious they are competing for tourists and locals alike to spend their time at their parks. So it doesn't come as a huge shocker that Universal has now entered the news article's concerning the DeSantis and Disney situation. In the beginning of October, DeSantis did something that numerous news articles found riveting and reported on. Let's break down what happened and why it was so popular in the media.

According to O'Neil (2023), Universal Orlando Resort "score[d] a big government benefit." Before I discuss what this benefit entails, let me remind you that DeSantis took away the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a special district that Disney had to made some details about running their business easier. Please refer to my previous article where I go into much more detail about what exactly the Reedy Creek Improvement District was. This is important to remember because what DeSantis took away from Disney, he granted effortlessly to Universal.

Universal Orlando Resort (UOR) has been given a new special district, the Shingle Creek Transit & Utility Community Development District. This special taxing district was proposed by UOR due to its upcoming new theme park - Epic Universe. The special district is being granted over $200 million total to fund public infrastructure and a new SunRail station that will connect the Orlando International Airport to the Orlando Convention Center. All employees that make up the board are also Universal employees, similar to the previous Reedy Creek Improvement District that DeSantis took away.

This whole thing is basically a slap in the face to Disney. DeSantis is essentially taking a cookie away from one child and giving it straight to the other, just because the first child misbehaved. This act from DeSantis and the Florida government just makes me further believe how immature this entire situation is and how ridiculous politics can get.

Citation

O’Neil, K. (2023, October 11). Universal gets something huge that desantis took away from Disney. TheStreet. https://www.thestreet.com/travel/universal-gets-something-huge-that-desantis-took-from-disney

It's Been Seven Months - What's Happening Now?

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-disney-generates-40-billion-in-annual-economic-impact-in-florida-and-over-quarter-of-a-million-jobs-301987814.html

The Disney versus DeSantis battle began April 28, 2023, exactly seven months prior to when I am writing this. There's been a lot of back-and-forth between the two parties, a lawsuit, endless media attention, and more. In one of my other articles I explained the timeline of events for the whole situation, but what has happened in the past two or three months? Let's get caught up on everything.

Long story short: DeSantis made a political decision that has been deemed the "Don't Say Gay" bill, Disney CEO at the time spoke out about his disapproval, DeSantis seems to have been targeted Disney due to their public disapproval, and Disney has been fighting back. Obviously, there's more details to the situation, but I just want to cover the most recent events.

According to Birle (2023), there are updates regarding the federal lawsuit, state lawsuit, and more. The federal lawsuit, which Disney filed against the state of Florida for infringing on their freedom of speech, was filed to be dismissed by DeSantis and the board of the Central Florida Tourism District. This is because DeSantis doesn't believe Disney doesn't have an argument. A decision will be made whether to dismiss the case on December 12.

As for the state lawsuit, Florida is suing Disney with a claim that Disney undermined the power of the CFTOD board. Disney attempted to dismiss the case, but this dismissal failed in July. A summary judgment will be made at a hearing date on March 12, 2024.

Lastly, Disney seems to try to be appealing to the public and possibly other government officials inside and outside of Florida. Disney commissioned an Oxford Economics study to assess their impact on the state of Florida in 2022. The study found that "Disney generated $40.3 billion in total economic impact for the state and generated $3.1 billion in annual local and state tax" (Birle, 2023). Disney also generated 263,000 jobs in Florida, meaning that if Disney didn't exist then the unemployment rate in Florida would rise from 3% to 5.4%.

So it looks like this feud will be lasting at minimum until March 2024. Until then, who knows what will go down between Disney and DeSantis.

Citation

Birle, J. (2023, November 19). Sunshine State Feud: The latest on the battle between Disney and desantis. Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/sunshine-state-feud-latest-battle-between-disney-desantis

Analyzing Article Titles From AP News on the Disney Versus DeSantis Debacle

AP News

In a similar fashion to my previous article post, I wanted to take a look at AP News, specifically to analyze their article titles on the Disney/DeSantis situation. While I was looking through the News tab on Google for this topic, I found a lot of articles posted by them. I'm not entirely sure how the Google algorithm works, but it's not in chronological order, so my next assumption was the top suggested articles are the most relevant currently. If this is true, then that means AP News is getting a lot of traction on their site, specifically for this topic. So let's take a look at their article titles and analyze why people are clicking on them!

Unlike Inside the Magic, AP News is not a Disney-oriented news website. They post about all types of news topics. These topics include World, U.S., Politics, Sports, Entertainment, Business, Science, Fact Check, Oddities, Health, and Climate news.

When analyzing Inside the Magic's article titles, I used their personal search function and found the most popular articles that way. This time, I will be choosing the first three AP News articles that appear under the News tab on Google with the search "Disney and DeSantis."

These three articles include:

"Morale is down and cronyism up after DeSantis takeover of Disney World government, ex-employees say," posted on November 6, 2023, and written by Mike Schneider

"Disney warns that if DeSantis wins lawsuit, others will be punished for 'disfavored' views," posted on October 30, 2023, and written by Mike Schneider

"Disney says DeSantis-appointed district is dragging feet in providing documents for lawsuit," posted on October 27, 2023, and written by Mike Schneider

In an attempt to mix things up, I will be analyzing these articles individually, instead of collectively.

The first article listed above has the following key words and phrases: "Morale is down," "Takeover of Disney," and "ex-employee's." I find the phrase "Morale is down" interesting because it might be influencing how reader's feel about the situation. They might begin to feel at a loss over the situation, as well. This article title is also interesting because it mentions ex-employee's of the Walt Disney World Co. As a reader, I myself am wondering are these ex-employees because of the ongoing dispute? How long have they been ex-employee's, and if they no longer work for the WDW Co., how do they know the morale is down? All of these are reasons I would click on this article.

The second article has the following key words and phrases: "Warns," "Punished," and "Disfavored views." These are all really negative words, suggesting an article with interesting but dis-heartening news. It's also interesting how they phrased it that Disney is warning DeSantis. I've noticed this trend a lot from all types of articles - the use of Disney and DeSantis is very pointed and intentional.

Honestly, the last article didn't have any words or phrases that stood out to me like the other one's. The title is very straight-forward and appears to just be providing a hint at the news you can read about in the entire article. I'm not sure why it showed up on the first page of news concerning this situation on Google, especially since it's the oldest article I referenced. My best guess is because it references the lawsuit, which is a hot topic.

What key words or phrases from these articles stood out to you? Would you click on these?

Analyzing Inside the Magic's Article Title's About the Disney/DeSantis Debacle

From Inside the Magic

InsideTheMagic.net is a website focused solely on Disney news and updates. There are a few other websites like this, such as DisneyFoodBlog.com or WDWInfo.com. Inside the Magic features information about the theme parks and entertainment. Unlike other Disney news websites, however, they also report on the Disney versus DeSantis situation. For this article, I will be analyzing their article titles that reference this situation.

When utilizing the search feature on their website and typing in the word "DeSantis," 15 articles come up, and that's just in the Top Results category. Inside the Magic displays how many "hearts" each article received, so I decided to take the top three out of the 15 to analyze.

These three articles include:

Disney Wins Big Thanks to DeSantis, published on July 6, 2023, and written by Corrina Murdoch

DeSantis Bombshell May End Disney Lawsuit for Good, posted on July 10, 2023, and written by Corrina Murdoch

DeSantis Drowns in Disney War, posted on April 18, 2023, and written by Zach Gass

I noticed right away why these might be the most popular from that search based on when these were posted. The last one listed was posted the day that the Disney/DeSantis feud began, so a lot of people were interested in the topic. The other two were posted around the same time in the beginning of July. This was probably when a lot was happening surrounding the lawsuit and other big news for the situation.

These articles all use catchy words that hold a lot of impact: "Wins Big," "Bombshell," "Drowns," "Disney War," and "End Disney Lawsuit for Good." These words and phrases are all attracting due to what they imply on their own. People will see these and want to get more information about what is happening.

Inside the Magic has mastered the use of key words and phrases in their article titles, to the point where it is bordering on accurately being deemed "click-bait." It seems that what these articles have in common are eye-catching phrases and the fact that they were posted during ideal dates for this topic.

Do you see any other similarities, differences, or key factors in these article titles?

"Constitutional Mutiny" - Why is This Phrase so Interesting for the Media?

Screenshot taken by me

While scrolling through recent articles about the Disney versus DeSantis situation, I realized two things. 

One, I'm surprised and disappointed this feud is still going on. As I'm writing this, it has been exactly seven months since the feud began. You would think one of the most successful company's in the world and a state government, both run by adults, would have had it out by now. Or maybe, in a peaceful world, they would be acting like actual adults and have come to an agreement on their disagreement. Unfortunately, no, this is the world that has seen two world wars and countless other man-made issues, so here we are - continuing to update on an argument between a 45 year old and a giant mouse.

The second thing I noticed was the reoccurrence from different news outlets of the same phrase - "Constitutional Mutiny." I will be defining what this term means in regards to the Disney/DeSantis situation, and then I will examine why the media is so focused on using this term in their headlines.

I find it easiest to understand new terms by defining their parts individually. Constitutional is defined as "relating to an established set of principles governing a state." Mutiny is defined as the "refuse to obey the orders of a person in authority." So, constitutional mutiny must refer to someone or something that is refusing to obey the principles set by the government of a state. This makes perfect sense in the context of Disney/DeSantis, so this is the definition we're going with.

The first article I noticed with this term in their title comes from Yahoo! Finance: "Disney accuses Ron DeSantis of 'constitutional mutiny' in new court filing," written by Alexandra Canal.The second article comes from Deadline: "Disney Accuses Ron DeSantis And Allies Of Un-American 'Ongoing Constitutional Mutiny" In Latest Legal Volley Over Theme Park District," written by Ted Johnson. That one was a mouthful.

The three key words used in both article titles: "Constitutional Mutiny" and "Accuses." Both are very heavy words that hold a lot of impact upon reading, especially in conjunction with the names Disney and DeSantis. So what is going on in this situation and why are these news outlets focusing so heavily on these terms, specifically when referring to the so-called "Constitutional Mutiny"?

According to Deadline, "The Walt Disney Co. accused Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and his allies of being engaged in 'ongoing constitutional mutiny' for targeting the company over its opposition to a parental rights bill'.' Disney's legal team referred to this as a constitutional mutiny because they claim DeSantis are "openly rejecting the foundational First Amendment rule that a state cannot deploy its official powers to punish the expression of disfavored political viewpoints." Surprisingly, this is pretty straight forward so far. Now that we understand the situation, let's examine why it's an eye-catcher in an article title.

The United States prides itself on being a country with an abundance of patriotism. Due to this, reader's of Yahoo! Finance, Deadline, and other American news outlets will be more attracted to titles that reference the American government in some way, such as "constitutional." They will be especially interested if that term is joined by one that is usually violent, such as "mutiny." As for the word "accuses" being used, this word has been a fan-favorite of media outlets since the feud began. When used, it entices reader's to decide who they feel is right or wrong and worthy of being accused of something.

So on the media's part, it's very smart to use the key terms "Constitutional Mutiny" in their article titles. It gains their articles attention, and it's gaining attention for the Disney and DeSantis situation, so perhaps the people who click on their initial articles they will continue to peruse their website for more information about the topic.

Did you read the articles? Do you agree with my findings?

Citations

Canal, A. (2023, October 31). Disney accuses Ron DeSantis of “constitutional mutiny” in New Court filing. Yahoo! Finance. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/disney-accuses-ron-desantis-of-constitutional-mutiny-in-new-court-filing-144839490.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANvj5O7Oq6csL6euTjk6aOWYj8-6JSXWi-QmUbBqXDQxYJt-MTQCrZAo60nTJSlT9ENskc9tPrPLfjPBF1CGkug-itA3a9UVkXxtPcRkrh_tAc6Gm9dJuiL0OjqP22a7HwloR9rsu0AOYyirFRYFv1Kqv-bx2nSeEL9lHVEt40zf

Johnson, T. (2023, October 30). Disney accuses Ron DeSantis and allies of Un-American “ongoing constitutional mutiny” in latest legal volley over Theme Park District. Deadline. https://deadline.com/2023/10/disney-ron-desantis-florida-lawsuit-2-1235587724/

What Exactly is the Reedy Creek Improvement District?

https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/Reedy_Creek_Improvement_District

The Disney versus DeSantis situation has many different layers, and the purpose of this blog is to peel them back one by one and examine them in terms of political outcome and in relation to the media. One layer that has stumped even the biggest of Disney fans is the involvement of the Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID). For this post, I plan to dive into what the Reedy Creek Improvement District is exactly, how it impacts Disney, and why DeSantis chose to target them. 

I posted previously explaining the entire timeline of events for the Disney versus DeSantis situation, so if you’re interested in that I recommend looking for that article. For the purpose of this post, however, I want to highlight one moment of time within the entire timeline. This would be April 19, 2023, when DeSantis terminated the Reedy Creek Improvement District’s involvement with daily Disney operations (Tarif & Marques, 2023). What exactly is the Reedy Creek Improvement District and how does this impact Disney? 

According to the About page on the Reedy Creek Improvement District’s website, it was created to act as its own county government to assist Disney with daily operations. This was due to how secluded Disney was within Orange and Osceola County. RCID describes itself as a “special taxing district,” but also says the new legislation ensures that citizens’ taxes won’t be used to pay for Disney’s power, water, roads, fire protection, etc. One of RCID’s main task is to maintain the safety and cleanliness of the water, and they do so by conducting 90,000 tests annually (Alvarez, 2023).  

RCID has recently been renamed the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) (Reedy Creek: The facts you need in 2023, 2023). CFTOD is described on the official Walt Disney World website as a “cost-effective mechanism for ensuring that the tax burden for [power, water, roads, fire protection, etc.] does not fall on Orange and Osceola County taxpayers.” On the same page it’s stated that the future of Reedy Creek remains bright as Disney plans to continue to financially support Florida, as well as provide thousands of jobs to its citizens. 

All of this sounds harmless – so why did DeSantis target RCID specifically in the beginning of their feud? Apparently, back in February, a new power was given to RCID to overpower DeSantis’ tourism oversight board and their decisions regarding Walt Disney World (Mates, 2023). In addition to the new legislation for RCID, the board was granted “superior authority” over the district in April. Disney retaliated by suing DeSantis for unfair treatment, claiming he was just retaliating against them for Chapek and Disney’s public disapproval of the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. This next part is hefty, so I’m going to include the entire section: 

“The tourism oversight board then retaliated with its own lawsuit against Disney. The suit claims the agreements with Disney ‘reek of a backroom deal.’ The previous board members failed to give proper notice about the agreements, lacked the authority to make them, unlawfully delegated governmental authority to a private entity and the agreements are unenforceable under Florida law, according to the suit” (Mates, 2023). 

Ultimately, it appears that DeSantis was searching for places to hit Disney and hit Disney hard, and stripping the power of its person district that controls their power, water, roads, etc. is one of the most impactful things to hit. On the surface, Walt Disney World is trying to appear at peace with the situation. However, I wonder how the company truly feels about DeSantis’ involvement in what was formerly known as RCID and how they plan to go from here.

 

Citations 

Alvarez, N. (2023, July 26). Wesh 2 exclusive: Inside what used to be the Reedy Creek Improvement District. WESH. https://www.wesh.com/article/inside-reedy-creek-improvement-district-disney/44639877 

Harif, T., & Marques, F. (2023, April 27). Disney versus desantis: A timeline of the Florida feud. Time. https://time.com/6275097/disney-desantis-florida-feud-timeline/ 

Mates, T. (2023, May 5). Florida gov. Desantis Signs bill to void reedy creek development agreement with Disney. WKMG. https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2023/05/05/florida-gov-desantis-signs-bill-to-void-reedy-creek-development-agreement-with-disney/ 

Reedy Creek: The facts you need in 2023. Walt Disney World External Affairs. (2023, April 21). https://disneyconnect.com/disneyworld/our-community/reedy-creek-facts-2023/