Reason.com's Robby Soave asked when "misinformation" became a-okay again:
Earlier this week, 60 Minutes dropped a bombshell: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, had granted Publix a vaccination contract as a kickback for a $100,000 campaign donation, according to a report by journalist Sharyn Alfonsi.
Then the story swiftly fell apart. Publix was neither the first nor the only vaccine distributor in Florida; the idea to use a grocery chain with more than 800 locations across the state was a good one, and did not originate with the governor; moreover, DeSantis explained all of this to Alfonsi, but his quotes were edited in a misleading way for the version that appeared in the 60 Minutes segment.
Bafflingly, CBS News is standing by this atrocious hit job. "For over 50 years, the facts reported by 60 Minutes have often stirred debate and prompted strong reactions," said the network in a statement released Tuesday. "Our story Sunday night speaks for itself."
This story should be a source of deep embarrassment for the network: Alfonsi made incendiary claims that she utterly failed to prove, and the report actively concealed from viewers the more plausible explanation offered by countless government leaders involved in the decision, including DeSantis himself. (Florida's director of emergency management, as well as the mayor of Palm Beach County—both of them Democrats—have subsequently released statements blasting CBS's distortions.)
It should have also drawn a thorough debunking, as well as outright condemnation, from other corners of the mainstream media. An accusation of corruption leveled by a major television network against a likely 2024 contender is a big story. It's perhaps an even bigger story when it turns out the network got it completely wrong. Media critics at The New York Times, The Washington Post, and elsewhere should be all over this.
The Times has published 10 articles that reference DeSantis in the last week, but not a single one of them concerns the 60 Minutes story. The Post linked to the story in its Monday email but has had nothing to say about its collapse.
Axios, on the other hand, published an article about the "clash" between DeSantis and 60 Minutes that was overly favorable to the latter. Axios made it sound like it was still an open question whether the Publix contract was a kickback and did not go into detail about the unfair editing of DeSantis' explanation.
Astonishingly, Axios then published a second, significantly worse article that accused DeSantis of milking his "spat" with 60 Minutes. "Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Trump ally with his eyes on the White House, is dialing up a dispute with 60 Minutes—seizing on a juicy chance to ingratiate himself with the GOP base by bashing the media," wrote Axios, as if the media-bashing was not well-deserved in this case.
