CBS News’ mysterious 'retired newsman' support adds to chaos surrounding '60 Minutes' report on DeSantis

CBS News’ "60 Minutes" enlisted a mysterious "retired newsman" to defend the controversial report about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ coronavirus vaccine rollout, but the famed newsmagazine didn’t explain who the alleged former journalist was and his identity remains a mystery.

The now-infamous "60 Minutes" report suggested DeSantis, R., gave the Publix grocery store chain preferable treatment to offer the coronavirus vaccine based on its donations to his PAC, while also suggesting he withheld vaccines from minorities. CBS News has maintained it did nothing wrong, but bipartisan critics have found multiple issues with the reporting, leading the newsmagazine to address the backlash.

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"In the mail this week, comments on our story about disparities in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine in Palm Beach County, Florida. Viewers focused on an exchange with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a press conference. Some viewers, including a retired newsman, applauded the story," correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi said on Sunday before reading a glowing letter from "Nick Boryack" in Vero Beach, Florida.

"60 Minutes" didn’t make it clear whether Boryack was the "retired newsman," but her phrasing led some viewers to assume the Vero Beach resident was the reporter who defended the controversial segment.

It could technically be anyone from a former paper boy, to disgraced CBS host Charlie Rose, to a respected media veteran, but Alfonsi didn’t say who the "retired newsman" was and the network has not revealed his identity.

CBS News did not respond to multiple requests for clarity on the newsman's identity.

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Many viewers took to Twitter with jokes that it was former "60 Minutes" correspondent Dan Rather, who famously reported on fake documents regarding President George W. Bush’s service time in the Texas Air National Guard.

"It's unclear who this 'retired newsman' is, his name does not show up on Google searches except for him being quoted by 60 Minutes. He may exist, or maybe he's like Dan Rather's 2004 CBS News memo regarding George W. Bush's National Guard service: Fake but true," Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson told Fox News.  

"In any event, no number of 'retired newsmen' can excuse ‘60 Minutes' shoddy coverage of Ron DeSantis and the Florida COVID vaccine rollout," Jacobson said.

An unverified Twitter account with a similar name, Nick Borynack, has posted several messages critical of DeSantis. The account also lists Vero Beach as its location, leading some to believe the person behind the account is also the person who wrote to "60 Minutes" despite the one-letter difference in the names.

The account was created in Jan. 2020, over a year before the controversial "60 Minutes" segment aired, and has posted several messages criticizing conservative politicians and media. However, the Twitter bio of @BorynackNick makes no mention of being a former newsman.

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There is a newsman named Nicholas Boyack who covers football in New Zealand, but he is not retired.

The New Zealand-based Boyack covered a referee returning to action after suffering a serious injury on Monday, but his editors did not respond when asked if he wrote into "60 Minutes."

DePauw University professor and media critic Jeffrey McCall feels "60 Minutes" botched its initial report while "the feeble CBS clean-up has also been disappointing" and lacks transparency.

"Having Alfonsi read a couple of viewer letters on a subsequent ‘60 Minutes’ broadcast hardly clarifies anything, and Alfonsi shouldn't be reporting the aftermath of her own questionable story in the first place," McCall told Fox News.

"Further, reading just a couple of viewer letters is quite insufficient in addressing the controversy over the report, and tossing in a vague reference to a ‘retired newsman’ is a weak attempt to find support for what was a journalistic blunder," McCall continued.

The Federalist senior editor Christopher Bedford also blasted CBS News over the ordeal.

"Since Boryack’s old job is mentioned solely to bolster the legitimacy of his observation, it would be helpful to know what his experience is," Bedford wrote. "There’s reason not to call undue attention to a retired citizen just to justify CBS’s shoddy reporting, but notice he’s the only person whose career is listed at all. Why? To make clear he knows what he’s talking about, just as CBS does — and just as you and I don’t."

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Bedford pointed out that "60 Minutes" could have easily used criticism of many well-respected media critics who have publicly condemned the report, but instead enlisted an anonymous retired newsman.

"It’s worth wondering what makes one ‘newsman’ greater than another — other than agreeing with CBS, of course," Bedford wrote.

Fox News’ Cameron Cawthorne contributed to this report.