Sharyn Alfonsi

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Sharyn Alfonsi.

Sharyn Elizabeth Alfonsi (born June 3, 1972) is an American journalist and correspondent for 60 Minutes.[1] She made her debut appearance on 60 Minutes on March 1, 2015. In 2019, she was awarded the prestigious duPont-Columbia journalism award.

Early life and education[]

Alfonsi attended high school in McLean, Virginia.[2] She graduated with honors from the University of Mississippi in Oxford in 1994,[3] where she was a James Love Scholar.

Career[]

Alfonsi began her career in local news at KHBS-KHOG-TV in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1995 then WVEC-TV in Norfolk, Virginia and KIRO-TV in Seattle, Washington and later WBZ-TV in Boston, MA. She was hired by Dan Rather at CBS News in 2002. She left CBS in 2008 to work for ABC News. She returned to CBS in 2011, to work for 60 Minutes Sports, which aired on Showtime.

In 2015, Sharyn Alfonsi made her debut appearance on 60 Minutes with an investigative story about fraud after Hurricane Sandy which led to a congressional investigation and earned her a Writers Guild Award.[4]

She appeared multiple times on 60 Minutes in the 2016–2017 season, including an investigative piece on hacking phones that showed how hackers could easily access a Congressman's phone.

In 2018, she was featured on the season premiere of 60 Minutes with a revealing interview with Paul McCartney, which drew more than 13 million viewers. McCartney admitted that he couldn't read music, was wildly insecure, and worried about his legacy.

In 2019, Alfonsi received two Emmy awards for her reporting following the Parkland High School shooting.[3]

Alfonsi made international news in 2020 when she was the first reporter to obtain photos from inside the jail cell of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and his autopsy photos which aired on 60 Minutes.

In 2020, Alfonsi and her producers won the prestigious duPont-Columbia University of Journalism Award for their reporting from the US/Mexico border.[3] During her acceptance speech Alfonsi dedicated the award to everyone who called her a “pain in the ass”. She was also recognized in 2020 with a Gracie Award by the Alliance for Women in Media for Outstanding News/News Magazine talent.[5]

In 2021, Alfonsi's story in 60 Minutes on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the state's COVID-19 vaccine rollout faced widespread critical backlash and criticism for making a direct accusation, without any "substantive evidence",[6] that there was a link between a donation by the supermarket chain Publix to DeSantis' re-election campaign, and Florida's partnership with Publix stores for vaccine distribution.[6][7][8] Subsequently, Palm Beach County Mayor Dave Kerner accused 60 Minutes of reporting "intentionally false" information,[6][7][9] while others characterized Alfonsi as coming off not as a journalist but rather a "political activist" in the encounter. The network itself came under similar scrutiny due to the fact that during the recorded briefing DeSantis provided what seemed to be significant volume of evidence refuting Alfonsi’s “pay for play” accusation, none of which appeared in the carefully edited segment aired by CBS.[10]

Personal life[]

Alfonsi is married and has two children. In May 2013, she gave the commencement address at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media at the University of Mississippi. Her speech was named by NPR as one of The Best Commencement Speeches Ever.[11]

References[]

  1. ^ "ABC News Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi Joining '60 Minutes Sports'". www.adweek.com. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  2. ^ "Sharyn Alfonsi official website".
  3. ^ a b c "Sharyn Alfonsi". CBS News. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  4. ^ "2016 Writers Guild Awards Winners Announced". www.wga.org. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  5. ^ "2020 Gracie Winners". Alliance for Women in Media. 2020-05-13. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
  6. ^ a b c Oliver Darcy. "'60 Minutes' faces backlash from Democrats and Publix for critical story on Florida's vaccine rollout". CNN. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  7. ^ a b Morrow, Brendan (2021-04-05). "Democratic mayor accuses 60 Minutes of airing 'intentionally false' story on Florida's vaccine rollout". Yahoo! News. Retrieved 2021-04-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "Publix refutes '60 Minutes' story that questions Florida's COVID-19 vaccine distribution". WTXL. 2021-04-05. Retrieved 2021-04-06.
  9. ^ Fung, Katherine (2021-04-05). "Palm Beach's Democratic mayor pushes back against report wealthy got Florida's COVID Shots". Newsweek. Retrieved 2021-04-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ "The media tried to smear Ron DeSantis. It backfired | Opinion". Newsweek. 2021-04-06. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
  11. ^ "The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever". NPR.
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