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The CBS television program 60 Minutes deceptively edited responses from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to discredit him due to his relationship with Publix, a company in charge of distributing vaccines in the state.
The edited segment featured reporter Sharyn Alfonsi ambushing DeSantis at a press conference last month. In it, she aggressively questioned him using a misleading narrative about how he has responded to the coronavirus pandemic.
Alfonsi tried to suggest that Publix had pledged to donate money to the DeSantis campaign in exchange for a contract to distribute vaccines in the state. It was later learned that the reporter’s insinuation was false.
“The irresponsible suggestion that there was a connection between campaign contributions made to Governor DeSantis and our willingness to join other pharmacies in support of the state’s vaccine distribution efforts is absolutely false and offensive” Publix said in a statement.
A Daily Wire article transcribed the entire text that 60 Minutes omitted where DeSantis rightly defends himself against the accusation and offers a detailed response explaining how the distribution system has worked in Florida and how Publix was selected.
DeSantis receives Democratic support
The disinformation on 60 Minutes was such that even former Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz criticized the attempt to misrepresent DeSantis in order to discredit him.
Moskowitz is the director of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management and has overseen the state’s response to the pandemic, “including implementing vaccine distribution and ensuring that masks reach frontline workers.”
“I said this before and I’ll say it again. Publix was recommended by the Florida Division of Emergency Management and the state Department of Health because the other pharmacies were not ready to start […] No one from the governor’s office suggested Publix. It’s absolute nonsense,” Moskowitz said.
Moskowitz’s reaction was echoed by Palm Beach County Democratic Mayor Dave Kerner, who said the 60 Minutes report “was not only based on misinformation, but was intentionally false.” He further charged that the television program refused to hear his side “about Palm Beach County’s vaccination efforts.”
I watched the 60 Minutes segment on Palm Beach County last night and feel compelled to issue this statement. The reporting was not just based on bad information – it was intentionally false. I know this because I offered to provide my insight into Palm Beach County’s vaccination efforts and 60 Minutes declined,” the mayor said.
“They know that the Governor came to Palm Beach County and met with me and the County Administrator and we asked to expand the state’s partnership with Publix to Palm Beach County. We also discussed our own local plans to expand mass vaccinations centers throughout the county, which the Governor has been incredibly supportive. We asked and he delivered. They had that information, and they left it out because it imeecaps their narrative.”
Sabrina Martín Rondon is a Venezuelan journalist. Her source is politics and economics. She is a specialist in corporate communications and is committed to the task of dismantling the supposed benefits of socialism // Sabrina Martín Rondon es periodista venezolana. Su fuente es la política y economía. Es especialista en comunicaciones corporativas y se ha comprometido con la tarea de desmontar las supuestas bondades del socialismo