CBS’s “60 Minutes” program is resisting criticism of its investigation into the vaccine’s launch in Florida.
A spokesman for “60 Minutes” said on Tuesday that it is not true that journalists on the program did not want to hear from the governor of Florida. Ron DeSantis
Ron DeSantis Florida’s Democratic Mayor considers the ’60 Minutes’ report on the state’s vaccine launch to be ‘intentionally untrue’. (R) and the State’s Emergency Management Director, Jared Moskowitz, for their report examining how vaccines were distributed in the state and whether campaign contributions played a role in the decisions.
“We asked for an interview with Governor Ron DeSantis, he declined,” said the spokesman in an emailed statement to The Hill. “We spoke to the State Emergency Management Director, Jared Moskowitz twice, but he refused to be interviewed for the camera for our story until well after our deadline. The idea that we ignored their perspective is false.”
On Sunday, the program aired an extensive report by CBS reporter Sharyn Alfonsi criticizing the vaccine launch in Florida, claiming that the effort ignored low-income areas and that DeSantis gave the Publix network the right to distribute the vaccines because Publix donated money to your political action committee.
Subsequently, DeSantis called CBS “defamation dealers” and said the story was a “horse manure” narrative about the launch of the coronavirus vaccine in his state.
Other critics, including Dave Kerner, the Democratic mayor of Palm Beach County, Florida, focused specifically on the play section when Alfonsi confronted DeSantis at an event to ask about the role Publix campaign donations played in vaccine distribution. Kerner and others claim that CBS deliberately edited DeSantis’ detailed explanation of how distribution decisions were made.
The video clip of the shuttle between DeSantis and Alfonsi shown in the story “60 minutes” it was shorter than the duration of the entire exchange.
On Sunday, Sharyn Alfonsi investigates allegations that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made decisions about the distribution of the COVID vaccine favoring wealthy or connected individuals, including a supermarket chain that recently donated to the governor’s PAC. https://t.co/VbVdXJ3xxv pic.twitter.com/6mbxfMdgPg
– 60 minutes (@ 60 minutes) April 2, 2021
A spokesman for “60 Minutes” said in a previous defense of the play that editing the video for clarity is something the program always does and that the two-minute response directly addressed Alfonsi’s specific question.
“When data from the state of Florida revealed that people of color were vaccinated at a much lower rate than their wealthier neighbors, ’60 Minutes’ reported the facts surrounding the launch of the vaccine, which is controlled by the governor,” wrote the spokesman. “We requested and conducted interviews with dozens of sources and authorities involved.”
“For more than 50 years, the facts reported by ’60 Minutes’ have often sparked debate and generated strong reactions,” added the spokesman. “Our Sunday night story speaks for itself.”