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Frank Cerabino wrote the following in an archived version.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.
Frankly, good journalism is asking questions when you don’t fully understand the ins and outs of a program. The dashboard costs around $5k. Total data collection request = $567,882. Neither anywhere close to $577 million. @FranklyFlorida pic.twitter.com/nhUqsWgHdc
— Alecia C. (@AleciaDCollins) April 3, 2024
The news outlet made matters worse by deleting the entire accusation from the column. They did this without mentioning a correction anywhere.
Did they just memory-hole this claim without a note or correction? It no longer appears in his post, but no mention of any edits beyond the “updated” tag in the meta. pic.twitter.com/QgNuFcppiN
— John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) April 4, 2024
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 And here’s an archived version where you can see the original allegations.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.”
.@GovRonDeSantis calls out the @pbpost for their false claim about Florida’s illegal alien healthcare cost dashboard.
He blasts @FranklyFlorida’s stealth edit as another example of the media destroying their credibility.
“If you got it wrong, just admit that you got it wrong.” https://t.co/Z8biwCtacC pic.twitter.com/rqbHoUNANX
— Jeremy Redfern (@JeremyRedfernFL) April 4, 2024
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.
