DeSantis Unleashes Fury on Florida Paper: Accuses Them of Stealth Edit in Healthcare Dashboard Hit Piece

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is still the subject of hit pieces in the media despite his withdrawal from the GOP Presidential race. The likely reason – in my opinion – is because he continues producing for his state and being a thorn in the side of the woke press/left.

When we last left you, NBC News had received some criticism for their attempt to slam DeSantis behind closed doors over Census figures showing 500,000 people leaving Florida in 2022. NBC blamed this in part on a conservative “political environment.” They left out the tweets and only mentioned it in four paragraphs. The net migration of Florida was something to be proud of.

The Palm Beach Post published a piece by a columnist who accused the DeSantis Administration of spending more money on a dashboard that tracked the costs of illegal immigrants’ healthcare in the Sunshine State, than the actual cost of that healthcare.

Frank Cerabino wrote the following in an archived version.

The agency estimates that the uncompensated hospitalizations cost $566 million in the state. This is less than what taxpayers spent on the online dashboard against immigrants and the staffing of it.

DeSantis accuses undocumented migrants of driving up healthcare costs. The original headline screamed, “His report cost taxpayers even more.”

Except… nope. Alecia Collins, spokesperson for the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration noted that someone at the Palm Beach Post had misread some numbers.

The news outlet made matters worse by deleting the entire accusation from the column. They did this without mentioning a correction anywhere.

Here is the link to the story as it was revised, without any corrections. And here’s an archived version where you can see the original allegations.

DeSantis responded by dumping the Palm Beach Post on Thursday in epic style, noting that it was yet another blow to the credibility of the media and observing, “When you’re wrong, you should just admit it.”

It is bad form for an allegedly reputable news source to make such a change without mentioning it prominently in the article, preferably near the top. It’s not an excuse that this guy is a columnist. A position in which you are expected to express your opinions is not acceptable.

I am a columnist for the North State Journal in North Carolina. I make sure to include all the relevant facts in my articles, even though I do express my opinion.

Every single journalist/reporter/columnist/media figure who puts pen to paper with the intent of sharing their thoughts with the public has a duty and obligation to be upfront and honest with readers to the best of their ability and knowledge. Even those with the best intentions can make mistakes, but there should be a note on whatever they have written to explain what has changed and apologize if necessary.

This is Media 101. You don’t have to be a journalist with a fancy degree or stay at a Holiday Inn Express to know this.

The Palm Beach Post will not learn from this mistake, and it is up to the readers to correct the record when they are wrong, whether or not intentionally.