Why Did Bari Weiss Pull the 60 Minutes CECOT Segment? |
For the past few months, all eyes have been on CBS News as the landmark network has undergone massive changes following the merger of parent company Paramount with Skydance Media and the subsequent installation of The Free Press founder Bari Weiss as editor-in-chief. Numerous questions have emerged about the direction of CBS News, where there have been widespread layoffs as well as resignations, with veteran reporters citing concerns about editorial independence. On Sunday, a brand-new controversy arose after 60 Minutes announced that it had pulled a prescheduled segment about the Trump administration’s deportation of immigrants to El Salvador’s CECOT megaprison shortly before that segment was set to be broadcast. The controversial decision, which came from Weiss herself, prompted sharp criticism from a senior 60 Minutes correspondent, who accused Weiss of spiking the story for political reasons. President Trump has repeatedly demonized 60 Minutes, and should Paramount-Skydance’s hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery succeed, Trump could be in a position to interfere with that merger. Weiss and CBS signaled that the CECOT segment needs more work and will air in a future broadcast, while critics have denounced the move as a chilling sign of censorship. Here’s what we know so far.
CBS News had already begun promoting a 60 Minutes segment airing last Sunday that focused on the Trump administration’s controversial agreement to deport Venezuelan migrants it alleged to be drug traffickers to CECOT, a notorious supermax prison in a country they have no connection to. Per the Hollywood Reporter the episode’s logline read, “Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi speaks with some of the now released deportees, who describe the brutal and torturous conditions they endured inside CECOT.”
On Sunday afternoon, mere hours before 60 Minutes was set to air, the network announced that the segment would not be appearing as planned, revealing the change in an editor’s note posted to social media. “The broadcast lineup for tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes has been updated. Our report ‘Inside CECOT’ will air in a future broadcast,” the post read.
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60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi........