CBS’s “60 Minutes” is the finest and most respected investigative journalism show in the history of television. Even after 53 years on the air, “60 Minutes” remains among the most relevant, effective and powerful brands in news. There’s no dispute that it has been and continues to be home to elite reporting on the most critical issues of our time.
But that doesn’t mean it’s infallible. And a sloppy moment on Sunday’s show is raising serious concerns.
A story reported by Sharyn Alfonsi and produced by Oriana Zill de Granados suggested that Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis gave grocery chain Publix preferential treatment to distribute COVID-19 vaccines because Publix donated $100,000 to DeSantis’ reelection campaign.
If that is true — if DeSantis ran a “pay-for-play” scheme involving vaccinations for the coronavirus — that’s an explosive story. But “60 Minutes” really didn’t deliver substantial evidence that DeSantis did any such thing.
Yes, Publix donated to DeSantis’ reelection campaign. But that is neither illegal nor unusual. Big companies often donate to political campaigns of both major parties. Yet the “60 Minutes” piece used that as the main evidence for its premise that DeSantis did something shady. They really didn’t have much else on that topic. There was really no there there.
And the thing is, the part about Publix wasn’t even the main part of the story, which was really about whether the wealthy were able to cut the line to get the vaccine.
But all the attention now is about this sketchy passing reference to the Publix thing. As far as that goes, DeSantis said the reason Florida partnered with Publix was that Publix could roll out the vaccine in days, whereas other pharmacies could not move that quickly.
DeSantis has blasted “60 Minutes,” calling the claims “irresponsible.” He said, “I know corporate media thinks that they can just run over people. You ain’t running over this governor. I’m punching back and I’m going to continue to do it until these smear merchants are held accountable.”
He added, “That's why nobody trusts corporate media. They are a disaster in what they are doing. They knew what they were doing was a lie."
In a statement, Publix said, “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.”
Even Democrats are blasting the story.
Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz, who is a Democrat, tweeted, “I said this before and I’ll say it again. (Publix) was recommended by (Florida Division of Emergency Management) and (Florida Department of Public Health) as the other pharmacies were not ready to start. Period! Full Stop! No one from the Governor’s office suggested Publix. It’s just absolute malarkey.”
Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner, another Democrat, called the “60 Minutes” piece “intentionally false.”
“60 Minutes” said DeSantis turned down requests for an interview. So Alfonsi asked her questions about this topic during a DeSantis press conference. He gave an answer of more than two minutes. You can understand how “60 Minutes” didn’t have time to run his full answer, but DeSantis complained that his answer was deceptively edited.
In a statement Tuesday, a spokesperson for CBS News and “60 Minutes” said, “When Florida state data revealed people of color were vaccinated at a much lower rate than their wealthier neighbors, ‘60 Minutes’ reported the facts surrounding the vaccine’s rollout, which is controlled by the governor. We requested and conducted interviews with dozens of sources and authorities involved. We requested an interview with Gov. Ron DeSantis, he declined; We spoke to State Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz twice, but he declined to be interviewed on camera for our story until well after our deadline. The idea we ignored their perspective is untrue. Counter to his statement yesterday, we also spoke on the record with Palm Beach County Mayor David Kerner. For over 50 years, the facts reported by ‘60 Minutes’ have often stirred debate and prompted strong reactions. Our story Sunday night speaks for itself.”
There’s nothing wrong with a news network digging into how vaccines are distributed. And political contributions are a good place to poke around on such a story. But, in this case, it doesn’t appear as if DeSantis did anything wrong. If he did, “60 Minutes” failed to provide enough information, context or evidence that he did.
In the end, this all could benefit DeSantis, according to CNN’s Chris Cillizza. Cillizza writes, “The report — and the backlash — amount to a massive gift to DeSantis as he looks to his reelection race next year and, he hopes, a 2024 run for the Republican presidential nomination. … DeSantis couldn't have written this script any better. He gets oodles more national attention and love from Trump conservatives, all the while being able to bash away at the media. Win, win, win.”
This doesn’t ruin the “60 Minutes” brand, but this was not one of the show’s finer moments.
A rough debut
Greg Gutfeld’s new late-night comedy (I use the word loosely) show debuted Monday night on Fox News.
Woof!
It was cringeworthy unfunny, with one of the featured bits making fun of Brian Williams’ Iraq War embellishment story that was, what, more than six years ago? (Here’s the clip so you can judge for yourself.) All that’s going on in the world and you’re dusting off that joke? What’s next? Hillary’s emails? Monica Lewinsky jokes?
It’s typically not fair to judge a new show when it’s just starting out. But this was the debut. You want to come out of the gate impressing viewers. They had weeks to generate their best stuff and this was the best they could come up with? It felt very amateur hour, not just compared to the late-night comedy you see from the likes of network hosts such as Stephen Colbert or Seth Meyers, but even from the political-type humor you see on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.”
Again, the show deserves some time to find its footing and rhythm, but the start was underwhelming.
Dateline’s superstar
