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CBS continues to receive criticism for its position regarding the manipulated interview of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on its 60 Minutes show. The network edited DeSantis’ statements to discredit him in relation to his handling of the distribution of the vaccine, in alliance with Publix.
During the interview, host Sharyn Alfonsi insinuated that Publix had committed to invest in the Republican’s campaign in exchange for being the company in charge of distributing the doses of the drug. However, the insinuation was denied by the company.
“The irresponsible suggestion that there was a connection between campaign contributions made to Governor DeSantis and our willingness to join with other pharmacies in support of the state’s vaccine distribution efforts is absolutely false and offensive,” Publix said in a statement.
CBS defends the 60 Minutes interview
In light of the situation, several people denied that CBS edited the moment in which DeSantis defends himself from the accusations. However, a spokesperson for the channel, whose identity was not revealed, defended on Fox News the editing of the interview and maintained that investigations were conducted into the situation. “We solicited and conducted interviews with dozens of sources and authorities involved. Our story Sunday night speaks for itself.”
Meanwhile, journalists rejected the fact and warned that CBS’ defending the interview’s editing would make things worse. Matt Whitlock, a Republican strageist, indicated that the videos show how the material was edited.
“Everyone has access to the video and can see exactly how they deceptively edited the interview to fit a pre-set narrative,” Whitlock wrote on Twitter.
Journalist Steve Krakauer agreed with Whitlock and emphasized that the network acts this way because it knows the larger media apparatus will protect it: “This is the kind of statement you make when you know the broader media apparatus will protect you.”
