New York Times downplays '60 Minutes' fiasco, insists DeSantis only airing 'grievance'

close

Video

'60 Minutes' story made Ron DeSantis a 2024 frontrunner: Joe Concha

Fox News contributor Joe Concha says Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could be the 47th president after the botched '60 Minutes' story.

The New York Times finally broke its silence on the controversial "60 Minutes" report on Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, but significantly downplayed the backlash CBS News has faced this week. 

Amid a report published Thursday focused on former President Trump's role in the GOP following his departure from the White House, the Times noted that DeSantis had emerged as "presidential timber" "almost entirely because he has weaponized news coverage critical of his handling of the coronavirus."

"Mr. DeSantis’s actual response to the crisis is not what delights conservatives; rather, it’s how he bristles at skeptical coverage, just as Mr. Trump did when he was excoriating the 'fake news,'" the report read. "The most recent example came this week when '60 Minutes' aired a segment that suggested Mr. DeSantis had improperly made Publix grocery stores, which are ubiquitous in Florida, distributors of the coronavirus vaccine after the company contributed $100,000 to him."

Instead of mentioning the pushback "60 Minutes" received from Florida Democrats, one of whom called the "pay-for-play" narrative "bulls---", or the accusations of deceptive editing of the governor's remarks, the Times kept the focus on DeSantis' reaction. 

COVERAGE OF '60 MINUTES' FIASCO FOCUSES ON 'GIFT' TO DESANTIS, NOT JOURNALISTIC BLUNDER 

"Mr. DeSantis did not cooperate with CBS for the piece. But with the sympathy of other Republicans, he cried foul about the segment after it ran and was rewarded with a coveted prime-time interview on Fox News to expound on his grievance," the Times continued. 

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis holds a media briefing concerning the COVID-19 vaccines at the Publix Supermarket at Treasure Coast Plaza on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, in Vero Beach.Tcn Desantis Publix 1 (Reuters)

The Times reporting struck a similar tone to other media outlets, who framed the "60 Minutes" controversy as a political "gift" for DeSantis rather than journalistic malpractice on the part of CBS News. 

"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," CNN editor-at-large Chris Cillizza wrote Tuesday. "Like any ambitious national politician, DeSantis sought to quickly move to take advantage of the situation ... Trump-aligned commentators rushed to DeSantis' defense, casting this episode as evidence of just how scared the media is of the Florida governor's 2024 prospects."

TV NETWORKS SHIELD CBS; CNN, MSNBC, ABC, NBC IGNORE FIRESTORM OVER '60 MINUTES' DESANTIS REPORT

Cillizza added: "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."

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies appeared to agree, citing Cillizza's piece and noting that "in the end, this all could benefit DeSantis."

"This doesn’t ruin the '60 Minutes' brand, but this was not one of the show’s finer moments," Poynter’s senior media writer Tom Jones gently scolded the CBS program. 

Video

Axios expressed a similar sentiment in a report headlined, "DeSantis milks '60 Minutes' spat.

"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," the report began. "It's a political gift akin to all the Fox fodder that Sen. Tom Cotton gobbled up after the N.Y. Times revolt over his op-ed."

The Washington Post, while refraining from using the "gift" phrasing, made the same argument with the headline, "How Ron DeSantis’s critics are turning him into a hero for the right."

"More than anything, though, [DeSantis] has a plausible case to make to Republicans that he’s being singled out politically by nefarious Democrats and the media," Post senior political reporter Aaron Blake wrote.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

"DeSantis is the governor of a big state, and that comes with both appropriate scrutiny and the possibility that this scrutiny will overreach. But when it comes to Republicans who can use that scrutiny to build their brands — and potentially launch a 2024 presidential candidacy based on that, rather than on Trump’s good graces — DeSantis has no equal at this point."

CBS News has repeatedly backed its report - though refrained from defending its "pay-for-play" allegation against the governor.