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Nearly a month after CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss triggered a scandal by shelving a “60 Minutes” story about Venezuelan men deported by the US to a hellish prison in El Salvador, the story is airing on Sunday evening.
Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who defended the story and alleged “corporate censorship” by Weiss last month, recorded a new beginning and ending to the segment to incorporate the additions Weiss wanted.
But the report itself, titled “Inside CECOT,” remained the same as it was on the day Weiss delayed it.
“CBS News leadership has always been committed to airing the 60 MINUTES CECOT piece as soon as it was ready,” a spokesperson said. “Tonight, viewers get to see it, along with other important stories, all of which speak to CBS News’ independence and the power of our storytelling.”
The word “independence” is crucial — because this controversy is predicated on concerns that CBS is watering down its journalism to pacify President Trump. CBS’s parent company, Paramount, has business before the Trump administration, and Paramount’s new owners have taken numerous steps to appeal to Trump personally.
But Weiss and her deputies insist that this was a good-faith editorial clash, not a political play.
The story is based on interviews with Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration who, according to Alfonsi, “describe torture, sexual and physical abuse inside CECOT, one of El Salvador’s harshest prisons.”
“The torture was never-ending. Interminable,” Luis Muñoz Pinto, one of the men interviewed, told Alfonsi. “There was blood everywhere, screams, people crying, people who couldn’t take it and were urinating or vomiting on themselves.”
The process to get the story on the air has been exasperating. After all, the other people involved in the production thought the piece was done before Christmas.
The Bari Weiss factor
Weiss, who leads The Free Press website, added CBS News to her portfolio when Paramount acquired The Free Press for $150 million last fall. Paramount said CBS News and The Free Press would pursue “a new standard for trusted journalism in America.”
But trust has been in short supply between Weiss and the rank-and-file staff at CBS News.
Weiss detractors have criticized her startup-type management style and her lack of TV news experience.
And CBS News staffers have been on edge about political interference even before Weiss arrived. Last summer, Paramount’s prior owners paid Trump to settle a legally dubious lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” report he disliked.
All of these factors collided inside CBS News in the middle of last month. After weeks of work on the “Inside CECOT” report, staffers at “60 Minutes” believed it was complete on Friday, Dec. 19.
Weiss had screened the story for the first time the night before and sent some notes to executive producer Tanya Simon. Alfonsi’s team made some changes based on her feedback and wrapped up the production. CBS News began promoting the upcoming report on social media, and Alfonsi flew from New York back to her home in Texas.
Then Weiss had a change of heart. She told Simon she believed the report required further reporting before it aired.
The decision — coming at a time when Trump was publicly criticizing “60 Minutes” and Paramount — hit like a shockwave at CBS News.
Alfonsi wrote a email to colleagues claiming “corporate censorship,” noting that the piece had already been fact-checked and legally vetted; it had even been shipped off to the Canadian network that re-airs “60 Minutes,” which is how a bootlegged copy got online, further embarrassing CBS.
In response to Alfonsi’s accusations, Weiss said her story “was not ready.”
“While the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball,” she said, pointing to previous reporting by other news outlets.
Moreover, Weiss said, “This is ‘60 Minutes.’ We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera.”
Internally, Weiss was critical of Alfonsi for not getting any Trump administration officials on camera for interviews about the deportations.
But Alfonsi’s view, expressed in her email to colleagues, was that “their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”
“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,” Alfonsi wrote.
Weiss said she wasn’t spiking any story, she was merely pressing for more reporting and context.
For example, as she wrote in an email, “Of the 252 Venezuelans sent to CECOT, we say nearly half have no criminal histories. In other words, more than half do have criminal histories. We should spend a beat explaining this.”
The scramble for comment
The Weiss critics inside CBS say she didn’t realize that shelving the CECOT story would be a big deal, a direct reflection of her TV inexperience, given that the piece had already been announced to the world.
People close to Weiss admit that she didn’t foresee the ramifications of holding the story. But they say no journalist should have objected to her call for “more reporting.” They blame Alfonsi — whose contract is up in just a few months — for inflaming the situation and being overly stubborn.
Alfonsi was certainly reluctant to make changes to the original report. She believed the credibility of “60 Minutes” was on the line.
The report had already been subjected to the rigorous process that “60 Minutes” is renowned for. It had been approved. And it had even streamed, inadvertently, in Canada.
Alfonsi, according to sources, observed that media critics would compare the Canadian stream to the US broadcast and call out any changes. She didn’t want to do anything that might lead viewers to conclude that “60 Minutes” is compromised.
Weiss, on the other hand, argued internally that Alfonsi was hurting the newsmagazine by resisting reasonable feedback.
And she wanted to ensure that “60 Minutes” had exhausted every avenue for comment from the Trump administration.
Weiss said she would personally book an interview with a relevant Trump official, such as Kristi Noem or Tom Homan.
So “60 Minutes” producers flew to DC from New York, and Alfonsi flew in from Texas, for a possible taping last Thursday. But the promised interview did not materialize, two sources said, and everyone went home empty-handed.
On Thursday night sources told CNN that the report was not airing this Sunday. “They keep making excuses” to hold it, a person supporting Alfonsi said.
On Friday morning, two other sources said CBS News management was prioritizing a more timely story about ICE and Minneapolis for Sunday’s broadcast.
But then something suddenly changed. Alfonsi was told “Inside CECOT” was back in contention for Sunday.
Alfonsi continued to repel requests to change the story. Weiss wanted her to address the fact that one of the deportees interviewed has two tattoos, one of which is a swastika.
The ultimate solution: Alfonsi taped what’s known in TV as a “tag,” an ending to the story that includes the points Weiss wanted.
The finished product “has more context for viewers,” a CBS source said. Management decided to air both “Inside CECOT” and the Minneapolis report on Sunday night.
Numerous media critics pointed out that Sunday’s edition of “60 Minutes” would be lower-rated than usual because it aired at the same time as an NFL playoff game on NBC.