Tuesday’s CBS Mornings did its part to join into the liberal media’s latest piece of fake news about Florida meant to impale conservative policies and Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) by insisting a poem from far-left poet laureate Amanda Gorman was “bann[ed]” from a Florida school.
With a chyron reading “Florida Book Banning Controversy” (and one in a tease having read “Amanda Gorman’s Poem Banned”), featured co-host Vladimir Duthiers began:
Let’s begin with the ongoing controversy over book banning in schools, this time involving Amanda Gorman, the first national youth poet laureate. A grade school in South Florida restricted access to Gorman’s acclaimed poem, The Hill We Climb after one parent filed a complaint.
Adding the poem was written for “President Biden’s inauguration in 2021,” he then queued up an excerpt from Gorman talking about the need to “repair” America from its “past” and “victory” will be based in a “promise.”
Duthiers went right into the spin from the far-left, pro-LGBTQ group the Florida Freedom to Read Project that framed the parent who raised concerns as a kook:
According to documents shared by the Florida Freedom to Read Project, the parent said Gorman’s poem, which turned into a best-selling book was, “not educational,” and indirectly included, “hate messages.” The parent also said — get this — Oprah Winfrey wrote the book, of course, she did not.
Only after he added that Gorman said “she was ‘gutted’” by the supposed ban did CBS have Duthier reveal how a ban couldn’t be any further from the truth: “The school district says, no literature has been banned or removed, but it determined that The Hill We Climb is better suited for middle school students and was shelved in the middle school section of the media center.”
Thankfully, co-host Tony Dokoupil reacted by stating “it feels almost like a non-story because it is a decent compromise to put it in the middle school section” and would thus still be available for someone who might be “a really advanced elementary” student and, if a student was curious enough to go to the library, they’re probably able to grasp such content.
For her part, fill-in co-host Dana Jacobson said “banning...books,” was a “far larger issue, but availability has to be there of this material.”
While they still latched onto the “ban” phrase (and thus poisoning the well), at least they weren’t as brazen as those the great AG Hamilton outlined.
CBS’s peddling of more fake news about Florida was made possible thanks to the backing of advertisers such as Ashley Homestore and Claritin. Follow the links to see their contact information at the MRC’s Conservatives Fight Back page.
CBS Mornings
May 24, 2023
7:26 a.m. Eastern [TEASE][ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: Ahead; Amanda Gorman’s Poem Banned]
TONY DOKOUPIL: Plus, a school that said Amanda Gorman’s poetry not fit for younger students.
(....)
7:49:49 a.m. Eastern
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: What to Watch; Florida Book Banning Controversy]
VLADIMIR DUTHIERS: Let’s begin with the ongoing controversy over book banning in schools, this time involving Amanda Gorman, the first national youth poet laureate. A grade school in South Florida restricted access to Gorman’s acclaimed poem, The Hill We Climb after one parent filed a complaint. Gorman wrote that work for President Biden’s inauguration in 2021. Let me play a sample for you.
AMANDA GORMAN [on 01/20/21]: If we’re to live up to our own time, then victory won’t lie in the blade, but in all of the bridges we’ve made, that is the promise to glade. The hill we climb, if only we dare, it is because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it.
DUTHIERS: According to documents shared by the Florida Freedom to Read Project, the parent said Gorman’s poem, which turned into a best-selling book was, “not educational,” and indirectly included, “hate messages.” The parent also said — get this — Oprah Winfrey wrote the book, of course, she did not. Gorman responded saying she was “gutted,” and that she wrote the poem so young people could see themselves in a historical movement. The school district says, no literature has been banned or removed, but it determined that The Hill We Climb is better suited for middle school students and was shelved in the middle school section of the media center.
DOKOUPIL: I mean, I’d say a couple of things about this. First, it feels almost like a non-story because it is a decent compromise to put it in the middle school section. I’m sure if you’re a really advanced elementary school, or you can walk over there. Second thing and speaking as a parent of four, if you’ve got a fifth grader or a fourth grader who is sophisticated enough to be going through libraries and grabbing books off shelves, that they can handle the content of a book like that, or really any book. I mean, that’s advanced.
DANA JACOBSON: As long as the availability is there for students. Obviously, banning of books, far larger issue, but availability has to be there of this material.
DUTHIERS: Yes. And Amanda Gorman has been tweeting about it. She has been posting about it on social media. So, we’ll see. We’ll see. But this is just the power of one parent.
JACOBSON: Right.
DUTHIERS: They believe, it is.
JACOBSON: One voice.
