CBS News correspondent accuses Bari Weiss of ‘political’ move in pulling ‘60 Minutes’ piece
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- Bari Weiss pulled a “60 Minutes” segment about Trump administration deportations to El Salvador just before it was set to air Sunday night.
- Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi accused Weiss of a “political” not editorial decision, saying the vetted story was killed because Trump officials wouldn’t be interviewed.
- Weiss disputed the claim, saying the story was held because it was not ready.
A “60 Minutes” story about the Trump administration’s treatment of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants who were deported to El Salvador was pulled by CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss shortly before it was scheduled to air Sunday night.
The unusual call drew a sharp rebuke from Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent for the piece, and brought more attention to the actions of Weiss since she was tapped to remold the network that was home to broadcast news giants Walter Cronkite and Mike Wallace.
Alfonsi said the decision was motivated by politics, according to an email she circulated to colleagues that was viewed by The Times. Alfonsi noted that the story was ready for air after being vetted by the network’s attorneys and the standards and practices department.
The former New York Times opinion staff editor and founder of the media upstart Free Press heads into a turbulent and challenged TV news environment.
“It is factually correct,” Alfonsi wrote. “In my view, pulling it now — after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”
According to the CBS News press department’s description of the segment, Alfonsi spoke to released deportees who described “the brutal and torturous conditions they endured inside CECOT,” one of El Salvador’s harshest prisons.
In a statement, a representative for CBS News said the report, called “Inside CECOT,” will air in a future “60 Minutes” broadcast. “We determined it needed additional reporting,” the representative said.
Weiss viewed the segment late Thursday, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to comment publicly. She had a number of issues with the story and asked for additional reporting, which could not be completed in time for airing Sunday. A news release promoting the story went out Friday.
Weiss reportedly wanted the story to have an interview with an official in President Trump’s administration.
But Alfonsi said in her email that the program “requested responses to questions and/or interviews” with theDepartment of Homeland Security, the White House and the State Department.
“Government silence is a statement, not a VETO,” Alfonsi wrote. “Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”
Trump attacked the CBS News program for the first time since Paramount was acquired by Skydance Partners.
Alfonsi’s email said she learned the story was pulled Saturday and that she had not discussed the matter with Weiss.
Weiss addressed the issue on a Monday morning editorial call at CBS News, according to people familiar with the matter.
“I held a ’60 Minutes’ story because it was not ready. While the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball,” she said. “The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more. And this is ’60 Minutes.’ We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera.”
Even if Weiss’ concerns might be valid, the sudden postponement of a “60 Minutes” piece after it has been promoted on air, on social media and through listings on TV grids is a major snafu for the network.
For Weiss, a former newspaper opinion page staff editor, it’s a perilous situation as her every move as a digital media entrepreneur with no experience in television is being closely scrutinized.
Weiss was the founder of the conservative-friendly digital news site the Free Press, who was personally recruited by Paramount Chief Executive David Ellison. Journalists at CBS News and media industry observers are watching to see whether Weiss’ actions are tilting editorial content to the right.
Before it was acquired by Skydance Media, Paramount agreed to pay $16 million to settle a Trump lawsuit making the dubious claim that a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris was deceptively edited to aid her 2024 presidential election campaign against him.
When the company went through regulatory approval to complete its $8-billion merger, Federal Communications Chair Brendan Carr said he welcomed Skydance’s “commitment to make significant changes to the once storied CBS broadcast network.”
In September, Paramount named Kenneth R. Weinstein, former head of a conservative-leaning Washington think tank, to be ombudsman for CBS News, fulfilling a condition of winning the Trump administration’s approval for the merger.
Trump recently said “60 Minutes” is “worse” under Paramount’s new ownership after an interview with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, in which she was highly critical of the president and his administration.
Paramount acquired the Free Press for $150 million as part of the deal to bring Weiss over. Her first major move was to air a highly sympathetic town hall with Erika Kirk, the widow of slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Erika Kirk has taken over as head of Turning Point USA, the political organization her husband founded.
