CBS News abruptly yanked a segment from Sunday’s episode of 60 Minutes about El Salvador’s infamous Terrorism Containment Center, or CECOT, prison and the accounts of Venezuelan men who were deported there by President Donald Trump’s administration. The segment (which can be viewed in full here) describes the place as a hell hole and one of the most brutal, torturous, and inhumane prisons in the world.
The decision was made three hours before the broadcast, after Bari Weiss, the new editor in chief of CBS News, apparently requested numerous changes to the segment. Weiss was controversially appointed editor-in-chief of CBS News last October despite a lack of experience and fears of politicization at the network famous for unbiased and fierce reporting.
Sharyn Alfonsi, the veteran 60 Minutes correspondent who produced the segment, 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,” she said. The decision to pull the story “is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”
Weiss was appointed by billionaire David Ellison, a Trump crony, who acquired Paramount Skydance, which owns CBS, only after a controversial $8 billion merger was approved by Trump. Why did Trump approve the deal? He did it only after Paramount agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle Trump’s lawsuit against 60 Minutes for editing a clip of an interview with Kamala Harris which allegedly improved her public image and damaged him. Trump’s claim was bogus; the editing was standard journalistic practice. But Trump’s deal with Ellison was not bogus — it was corrupt.
Why did Weiss hold up the story? She said it was “because it wasn’t ready.” She agreed the story presented “very powerful testimony” of abuse at CECOT but the story “needed additional reporting.” What additional reporting? She said they needed to get people from the Trump administration on camera. Really? What does Weiss think Stephen Miller and Kristii Noem, Trump’s boot lickers who orchestrated the corrupt deal with El Salvador’s president to use CECOT, would say?
But in fact, the 60 Minutes producer did try to get administration officials on camera. She said the administration refused to comment despite multiple requests and invitations. According to the producer: “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.”
Weiss tried very hard to justify her decision, but the public outrage is loud and likely nobody believes her. She said the public already knew lots about what was happening at the horrific prison after the Trump administration accused more than 200 Venezuelan migrants in the U.S. of being gang members and sent them to El Salvador without legal due process where they were tortured. So, what else does the public need to know? Great reason for killing a story.
But in fact, the public hasn’t heard directly from inmates who were incarcerated there and subjected to inhumane torture. The 60 Minutes piece does that.
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts saw the obvious shadow of corporate dealmaking. “It’s a sad day for 60 Minutes and journalism”, he said, adding that the Trump administration’s involvement in approving Skydance’s $8 billion deal to buy Paramount had previewed the decision.
Of course, Trump’s corrupt fingerprints are all over the CBS decision not to air the piece. It’s a gift to please Trump, who has voiced harsh criticism of 60 Minutes. And the new corporate owners have heard Trump’s criticism and want to please him.
But the new owners either know nothing about the honest and hard-hitting journalistic culture at 60 Minutes, or they don’t care.
