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A last-minute decision by CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss to yank a planned investigative segment about allegations of abuses at the notorious El Salvador prison CECOT has caused an outcry and also a sharp rebuke from the segment’s reporter.
The segment “Inside CECOT” was going to feature correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviewing “some of the now released deportees, who describe the brutal and torturous conditions,” and was promoted by CBS heading into the weekend. “60 Minutes” airs on Sunday nights.
But CBS announced Sunday that the segment was being held and would air in a future broadcast, reportedly due to concerns about not yet having an on-the-record response from the Trump administration for the newsmagazine segment. A CBS spokesperson told Fox News Digital it was determined the segment needed “additional reporting.” It is highly unusual for a pre-planned report to be pulled that close to airing.
’60 MINUTES’ POSTPONES SEGMENT ON MIGRANT INMATES FROM EL SALVADOR’S CECOT PRISON
“My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason — that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices — happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready,” Weiss said in a statement.
In a remarkable note to fellow “60 Minutes” staffers that quickly leaked to the media, Alfonsi said her segment was being held for political reasons, not editorial ones.
Alfonsi said Weiss had “spiked” the story and not given her a chance to discuss it further.
“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” Alfonsi wrote. “It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”
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She added that “60 Minutes” made requests for comment to the White House, Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department. Their silence was their statement, she wrote, and allowing that to delay the story was effectively giving them veto power.
“If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient,” she wrote.
Abandoning the sources who spoke with them at personal risk, Alfonsi said, would be journalistic malpractice.
“We have been promoting this story on social media for days,” Alfonsi wrote. “Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of ‘gold standard’ reputation for a single week of political quiet.”
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The Trump administration has faced controversy for deporting hundreds of Venezuelan gang members to CECOT earlier this year.
It marks another difficulty for Weiss as she continues trying to impose her leadership on a staff that doesn’t appear entirely receptive. Following the Paramount-Skydance merger this year and subsequent acquisition of her site The Free Press, Weiss was appointed to her new post in October, and she has ruffled feathers with her work to root out what she views as liberal bias.
Since she took over, CBS has scored several high-profile Trump administration interviews, including with the president. Weiss also did a town hall earlier this month with Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk, which irked liberals and drew low ratings.
Fox News Digital’s Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
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