\n \u201c60 Minutes\u201d just suffered a severe blow to its credibility. Now one of its own correspondents fears the program is being \u201cdismantled,\u201d and some employees are threatening to quit.\n <\/p>\n
\n The trigger: CBS News suddenly shelved a segment featuring the accounts of Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration to a notorious maximum-security prison in El Salvador.\n <\/p>\n
\n The correspondent who reported the story, Sharyn Alfonsi, said in an internal memo that \u201cthe public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n According to Alfonsi and two CBS sources who spoke with CNN on condition of anonymity, the story had been fully fact-checked and legally vetted by the time the network publicized it on Friday afternoon.\n <\/p>\n
\n But CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss weighed in with questions on Saturday morning, the two sources said. Alfonsi said Weiss \u201cspiked the story.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n One of the main issues Weiss raised was the lack of a response from the Trump administration to the reporting.\n <\/p>\n
\n According to Alfonsi, \u201cwe requested responses to questions and\/or interviews with DHS, the White House, and the State Department.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n But the administration did not engage, which concerned Weiss. At one point, Weiss suggested that the program try to interview White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and provided Miller\u2019s number, one of the CBS sources said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Alfonsi argued in her memo that the administration\u2019s strategic silence cannot be allowed to become a \u201cveto\u201d of a critical story.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cTheir refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIf the administration\u2019s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a \u2018kill switch\u2019 for any reporting they find inconvenient.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Weiss responded in a statement to The New York Times late Sunday night, \u201cMy job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren\u2019t ready for whatever reason\u2014that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices\u2014happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it\u2019s ready.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Earlier in the day, CBS News said of the decision to hold the segment, \u201cWe determined it needed additional reporting.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n But Alfonsi disputed that in her memo. \u201cOur story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIt is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now\u2014after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201c60 Minutes\u201d segments are commonly screened several times before air, but five screenings is an unusually high number, the CBS sources said.\n <\/p>\n
\n It is unclear when Weiss first viewed the story. But she has recently become personally involved in \u201c60 Minutes\u201d stories about politics, the CBS sources told CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n In another recent turn of events, President Trump has been blasting the newsmagazine on Truth Social, sounding disappointed in CBS\u2019s new owners.\n <\/p>\n
\n In late 2024, Trump sued CBS and its parent company, Paramount, then under different ownership, alleging \u201c60 Minutes\u201d deceptively edited a Kamala Harris interview to benefit her campaign.\n <\/p>\n
\n That lawsuit, which legal experts widely viewed to be legally dubious, loomed large over Paramount\u2019s attempt to merge with Skydance Media, a production company led by David Ellison and supported by Ellison\u2019s father, Larry, the Oracle billionaire.\n <\/p>\n
\n The lawsuit became a flashpoint inside CBS News, where journalists worried that both the old and new corporate leaders sought to mollify Trump at the cost of the newsroom\u2019s credibility.\n <\/p>\n
\n Eventually, the outgoing Paramount leadership team agreed to settle Trump\u2019s lawsuit, and the incoming leadership team agreed to several concessions that satisfied the Trump-aligned FCC.\n <\/p>\n
\n David Ellison took control of Paramount, lavished praise on \u201c60 Minutes,\u201d and said he wanted to strengthen CBS News. Then he acquired Weiss\u2019s startup, The Free Press, for $150 million, and installed her as editor-in-chief.\n <\/p>\n
\n Now in charge of both operations, Weiss has faced media industry skepticism about her lack of experience with TV management and traditional reporting.\n <\/p>\n
\n At the end of October, Weiss traveled to Mar-a-Lago when CBS journalist Norah O\u2019Donnell taped a \u201c60 Minutes\u201d sit-down with President Trump.\n <\/p>\n
\n The president praised Weiss during the interview, though not by name, adding, \u201cI don\u2019t know her, but I hear she\u2019s a great person.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Earlier that same month, Trump also said of the Ellisons, \u201cthey\u2019re friends of mine. Big \u2014 they\u2019re big supporters of mine, and they\u2019ll do the right thing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Over the past two weeks, however, Trump has lashed out at Ellison, who is currently waging a politically sensitive hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN\u2019s owner.\n <\/p>\n
\n On Dec. 8, he posted a screed against \u201c60 Minutes\u201d for interviewing Marjorie Taylor Greene, and claimed that since Paramount changed hands, the program \u201chas actually gotten WORSE!\u201d He repeated that opinion on Dec. 16, adding, \u201cIf they are friends, I\u2019d hate to see my enemies!\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n The timing of his most recent complaint, on Friday night, coincided with the behind-the-scenes drama at \u201c60 Minutes.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI love the new owners of CBS,\u201d Trump said at a rally. \u201cSomething happens to them, though. \u201860 Minutes\u2019 has treated me worse under the new ownership than\u2026 they just keep treating me, they just keep hitting me, it\u2019s crazy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n By then, CBS was already promoting the upcoming story, titled \u201cINSIDE CECOT.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Friday afternoon\u2019s press release said \u201ccorrespondent Sharyn Alfonsi speaks with some of the now released deportees, who describe the brutal and torturous conditions they endured inside CECOT.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Alfonsi said in her memo, of those interviewees, \u201cThese men risked their lives to speak with us. We have a moral and professional obligation to the sources who entrusted us with their stories. Abandoning them now is a betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism: giving voice to the voiceless.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201c60 Minutes\u201d just suffered a severe blow to its credibility. Now one of its own correspondents fears the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-361263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}