Christina Pushaw, press secretary for Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has been putting Democrats and the corporate press on defense by refusing to play along with what she says are partisan narratives.

Pushaw has garnered national attention for her active and sometimes aggressive interactions with journalists. Her strategy may serve as a playbook for conservatives who are ready to reject the media's framing and communicate with the public on their own terms.

The media's interest in Pushaw is a product of their obsession with DeSantis, Pushaw told the DCNF, which began in 2020 when Florida opened schools and businesses earlier than other states and became subject to constant media criticism. DeSantis largely ignored his media detractors, and Pushaw's strategy mirrors her boss's: she doesn't play along with the media's framing of an issue if it's misleading or overtly partisan, and she uses her platform on Twitter to cut past the spin and communicate with people directly, she explained.

"Legacy media is used to being gatekeepers, to setting the narrative and having everyone, including politicians, just go along with that," she said. With the credibility of the media collapsing and more people looking to social media and other sources for news, mainstream media outlets are losing their ability to shape the narrative, she said. "That's why this was so triggering for them. They're not gatekeepers anymore and that's making them very anxious. … They don't get to dictate to us what is truth and what's false when they have such a track record of lying."