CBS' new head honcho Bari Weiss nixed a 60 Minutes segment about Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration to what the program called a “brutal” prison in El Salvador (CECOT), which was due to air in three hours.
The New York Times is reporting that Weiss pulled it because she wanted many changes to the story.
Sharyn Alfonsi, the veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent who reported the segment, rejected that criticism in a private note to CBS colleagues on Sunday, in which she accused CBS News of pulling the segment for “political” reasons.“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” Ms. Alfonsi wrote in the note, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. “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.”
The Daily Beast reports that Weiss wanted white nationalist Stephen Miller to be interviewed as part of the segment, despite the fact that he refused to comment on the story several times and refused the opportunity to be interviewed, too.
Bari Weiss, the network’s new editor-in-chief, allegedly made the decision just three hours before the show was due to air because it “needed additional reporting,” and suggested the program would benefit from an interview with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller.
I'd be OK with it if Miller donned a white hood during the filming.
Brian Stelter reports that staffers are threatening to quit over Weiss' actions.
"60 Minutes" just suffered a severe blow to its credibility. One of its own correspondents fears the program is being "dismantled," and some employees are threatening to quit: https://t.co/wz1Oo0Xr9l
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 22, 2025
Weiss' response was just as laughable as her actions.
Bari Weiss just addressed the 60 Minutes situation on CBS News’s 9 a.m. editorial call.
She says the pulled “60” segment on a Salvadoran prison “did not advance the ball.” pic.twitter.com/mwayO32nOf— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) December 22, 2025
What is likely to really have happened: Steven Miller whined to Larry Ellison, who ordered Weiss to pull the segment. This is what happens when billionaires interfere with the business of reporting the news. Instead of reporting the news, they cater to power. In one day, Bari Weiss has destroyed the 60 Minutes brand. Employees should resign, head for the exits and figure out how they might be independent reporters.
Whatever happens, CBS News and 60 Minutes are no longer credible.
Karoli Kuns contributed to this article
UPDATE: The purported segment has been received by Allison Gill (MuellerSheWrote) from an anonymous activist group. I can't embed it, but you can watch it on her site.
