CBS Journalist Says Bari Weiss Spiked Segment on Notorious El Salvador Prison for 'Political' Reasons

A CBS News correspondent on Sunday accused Bari Weiss, the outlet's editor-in-chief, of pulling a "60 Minutes" segment on El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison for "political" reasons, shortly before it was scheduled to air.

Late Sunday afternoon, "60 Minutes" said in an editor's note that the broadcast lineup for the night had been "updated," removing the planned "Inside CECOT" segment. The note said the report on the maximum-security prison—to which the Trump administration sent more than 200 Venezuelan migrants—would "air in a future broadcast," without providing any specifics.

In an internal email obtained by the New York Times, veteran "60 Minutes" correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who reported the segment, said she learned on Saturday that "Bari Weiss spiked our story" and did not grant the journalist's request for a phone call to discuss the decision.

"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."

CBS News is owned by Paramount Skydance, a company headed by David Ellison—the son of Trump ally and GOP megadonor Larry Ellison.

Alfonsi went on to note that "60 Minutes" had "been promoting this story on social media for days," and "when it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship."

"I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight," she added.

Below is a trailer of the shelved segment, which included interviews with people sent to CECOT. Alfonsi said participants "risked their lives to speak with us."

In a statement issued late Sunday, Weiss—whose brief tenure at the helm of CBS News has been embroiled in controversy—suggested she pulled the plug on the "Inside CECOT" segment because it lacked "sufficient context" and was "missing critical voices." Unnamed people familiar with internal discussions at CBS News told the Times that Weiss pushed for the inclusion of a "fresh interview" with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, an architect of President Donald Trump's lawless mass deportation campaign.

But Alfonsi wrote in her email that "we requested responses to questions and/or interviews with [the Department of Homeland Security], the White House, and the State Department," but the requests went unanswered.

"Government silence is a statement, not a VETO," Alfonsi wrote. "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."

The decision to spike the CECOT segment has further inflamed internal tensions at CBS News over Weiss' leadership. CNN reported that "some employees are threatening to quit" over the move.

"It is unclear when Weiss first viewed the [CECOT] story," CNN noted. "But she has recently become personally involved in '60 Minutes' stories about politics, the CBS sources told CNN."