60 MINUTES SPIKED

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

“When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship,” wrote veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi.


A man is escorted by a CECOT guard on February 6, 2024 in San Vicente, El Salvador.
(Photo by Alex Peña/Getty Images)

Jake Johnson
Dec 22, 2025
COMMON DREAMS


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.

Bari Weiss: Bounds of ‘Acceptable Debate’ at CBS News Will Range From Alan Dershowitz to Dana Loesch

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.”

CBS News 'torched' over last-minute cancellation of report on Trump's 'concentration camp'

Travis Gettys
December 21, 2025 

ALTERNET


FILE PHOTO: Inmates sit inside a jail during a media tour at the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, in Tecoluca, El Salvador April 4, 2025. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas/File Ph

The network's flagship news magazine had been scheduled to broadcast a report Sunday on a group of Venezuelan men thought they were being deported back to their country of origin, but instead, they were delivered to CECOT, until the plans were scrapped about two hours before the program was set to air.

"The broadcast lineup for tonight's edition of 60 minutes has been updated," the program posted on its social media accounts. "Our report 'Inside CECOT' will air in a future broadcast."

The decision sparked criticism and raised questions about its newly installed editor-in-chief Bari Weiss immediately.

"Murrow dies again," sighed popular Bluesky account Grudgie the Whale.

"A news program with a legacy built up over 55 years," lamented Bluesky user Skeet Child O' Mine. "All torched by Bari Weiss in under a year."


"I grew up watching 60 Minutes every Sunday with my dad," stated Bluesky user Lee Marvin Oswald. "I continued that tradition with my own family. No more. You have really failed us. What a sad end to such a storied and long-running institution. And for what? Pathetic."

"Bari Weiss going from purported brave defender of free speech and open debate to chief censor of reporting about a federal concentration camp is so grimly hilarious," opined Bluesky user Stephen Judkins.

"Bari Weiss is really bad at her job," posted journalist Dave Itzkoff, "until you realize it's her job to be really bad at her job, in which case she is excellent at her job."

"WOW. They're not going to air their special on CECOT," noted popular Bluesky user Mueller, She Wrote. "I'd like to know who made this decision, and whether the federal government had a hand in it."

"Perhaps we should film a debate between a concentration camp guard and an abandoned toilet over whether CECOT is good," suggested journalist Matt Pearce, alluding to another highly criticized recent decision by CBS News. "Brought to you by Bank of America."

"What changed between now & Friday’s press release about this now delayed (or actually canceled?) @60minutes.bsky.social segment on the CECOT torture prison? Seems very odd," pondered journalist Jennifer Schulze. "Anyone know if 60 Minutes has ever delayed a piece at the last minute before?"

"Bari’s CBS pulled their CECOT report which included interviews with immigrants who were tortured in this concentration camp," said journalist Krystall Ball. "The Trump regime does not want you to know what was done to these people."