CBS News veterans face axing after speaking out against Bari Weiss amid new boss' clean-out
Bari Weiss is reportedly set to continue putting CBS News veterans on the chopping block, with 60 Minutes correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi and Scott Pelley up next after criticizing their new boss.
Alfonsi clashed repeatedly with Weiss after she held back a segment on the Trump administration's deportation of migrants to a notorious El Salvador prison.
Pelley has repeatedly criticized CBS' owners at Paramount and it has reportedly angered new CEO David Ellison, The New York Post reported.
A source told The Post that CBS News staffers 'think their s**t doesn't stink' and 'it’s going to be a war' between them and Weiss, who CBS News hired to restore fairness to the network.
They added that 'CBS News is allergic to changes – especially 60 Minutes people' and that they lack respect for Weiss, who previously ran the anti-woke outlet The Free Press.
'They don’t think Bari Weiss is qualified to be their boss.'
Alfonsi's contract is up in the next few months and while it isn't known how much longer Pelley's deal runs, the network is willing to buy people out to get them out of the building.
Another source said that the lifespan of a network executive is short and Pelley and Alfonsi may just try to 'wait out' Weiss.
Bari Weiss is reportedly set to continue putting CBS News veterans on the chopping block, with 60 Minutes correspondents Sharyn Alfonsi (pictured) and Scott Pelley up next after criticizing their new boss
Pelley has repeatedly criticized CBS' owners at Paramount and it has reportedly angered new CEO David Ellison
'Everyone at CBS News knows there will be a boss every two years,' the source said.
Alfonsi has been at 60 Minutes since 2015, while Pelley has been at the network dating back to 1989, having previously anchored CBS Evening News from 2011 to 2017.
It is questionable as to whether CEO David Ellison will remain steadfastly behind Weiss.
'She’s becoming a headache and Ellison doesn’t need a headache. They will do the bare minimum in appeasing Bari Weiss in the hopes she flames out,' an insider said.
Another suggested the complete opposite: 'Everybody has a boss and they need to realize that Bari Weiss is theirs.'
The Daily Mail has reached out to CBS News for comment.
Alfonsi's piece eventually aired this past Sunday with new information after Weiss claimed it wasn't 'comprehensive and fair' without an on the record statement from a White House official.
The pair reportedly got into a shouting match alongside Weiss' deputy Adam Rubenstein, with Alfonsi saying: 'You don’t get to produce me!'
A source said that CBS News staffers 'think their s**t doesn't stink' and 'it’s going to be a war' between them and Weiss (pictured), who CBS News hired to restore fairness to the network
Alfonsi clashed repeatedly with Weiss after she held back a segment on the Trump administration's deportation of migrants to a notorious El Salvador prison
She also accused Rubenstein of being 'a mouthpiece' for Donald Trump, while Rubenstein asked her not to take anything personally, Puck News reported.
By deciding not to run the segment, she claimed, Weiss was censoring her work and destroying 60 Minutes' reputation.
'I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight,' she warned, ominously.
Alfonsi told her colleagues in the email that the segment was 'screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. 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.'
She then went on to argue that that the segment was only killed because the Trump administration refused to comment on the segment, saying if that is a 'valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a "kill switch" for any reporting they find inconvenient.'
'If the standard for airing a story becomes 'the government must agree to be interviewed,' then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast,' she claimed.
'We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state.'
In the segment that aired in Canada, Alfonsi spoke to a college student who was detained by US Customs before being deported to CECOT
The student described how he was tortured upon arrival at the El Salvadoran prison
The 'Inside CECOT' report by Sharyn Alfonsi was included in Sunday's lineup, and aired alongside a separate report from Cecilia Vega on the ongoing protests against Immigration an Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota.
'CBS News leadership has always been committed to airing the 60 Minutes CECOT piece as soon as it was ready,' a spokesperson for the network told Deadline.
'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 decision to air the segment comes almost one month after it was unceremoniously cut from the show just two hours before it was set to air.
Newly-installed Editor-in-Chief Weiss argued at the time that the segment 'needed additional reporting' because it did not include an adequate response from the Trump administration, which Alfonsi said declined to comment on the story.
The decision, though, left network executives stumbling when the segment accidentally aired in Canada, and was shared online.
As questions about the scrapped segment continued, Weiss ordered Alfonsi on Thursday to interview a Trump official like Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem or Border Czar Tom Homan, CNN reports.
Weiss said she would personally book the interview with the Trump official, two sources familiar with the process told the outlet, which was the first to report that the segment would finally air.
It is questionable as to whether CEO David Ellison (pictured) will remain steadfastly behind Weiss
60 Minutes producers then flew to Washington DC from New York City and Alfonsi flew in from Texas.
'But the promised interview did not materialize,' Brian Stelter wrote in the CNN report. 'Everyone went home empty handed.'
As a result, the report did not include any direct interviews or exchanges onscreen with Trump officials, but did contain statements from several different US government agencies - something Weiss felt was lacking in the original piece, an unidentified executive told Variety.
In one clip from the updated segment, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declared that those imprisoned at CECOT 'are heinous monsters, rapists, murderers, kidnappers, sexual assaulters, predators who have no right to be in this country and they must be held accountable.'
The White House also sent a statement to 60 Minutes, saying: 'President Trump is committed to keeping his promises to the American people by removing dangerous criminal and terrorist illegal aliens.'
The new report also included three more minutes of new reporting, including a statistic about the number of people who are deported from the US because they are a criminal.
The original piece that aired in Canada stated that only eight of the 252 men deported to CECOT had been convicted of violent crimes in the US, but the statistic sounded off to Weiss and CBS News President Tom Cibrowski, an anonymous source told the New York Post.
After they then pushed for more reporting, they learned that about half of the 252 men had contact with the American justice system - either criminal convictions or pending charges in the US.
Weiss's start as the head of CBS News has been plagued by missteps, including a town hall last year with Erika Kirk that proved to be a ratings flop. Weiss has never led a major news organization
Gayle King's future at CBS hangs in the balance according to sources who say the new boss of the network is eager to slash her eight-figure salary
The updated story also noted that one of the men interviewed by Alfonsi has tattoos that are known marks of gangs or Nazis - which the Trump administration uses to identify migrants for potential deportation.
But, Alfonsi notes, those symbols do not have any connection with the Tren de Aragua gang, and neither of the men she spoke with had been convicted of any crimes in the US.
Weiss, however, has denied her decision was political, arguing it is standard practice to hold back stories until they're perfect.
'My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren't ready for whatever reason — that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices — happens every day in every newsroom,' she told The Times.
'I look forward to airing this important piece when it's ready.'
Weiss also told colleagues that she spiked the segment simply because it 'did not advance the ball' during the network's typical 9am editorial call on Monday, The New York Times reported.
She pointed out how the the Times and other publications have 'previously done similar work' while maintaining that fresh, through-provoking content was her 'north star.'
'To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more,' Weiss told staff.
Weiss was also behind the controversial hire of morning anchor Tony Dokoupil to host the CBS Evening News
'And this is 60 Minutes. We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera.
'Our viewers come first. Not the listing schedule or anything else,' she argued. 'That's my north star, and I hope it's yours too.'
Pelley and Alfonsi could follow morning anchor Gayle King out the door amid rumors Weiss wants to slash her salary by half, according to a new report.
Weiss, 41, is also mulling a move that would see King stripped of her role as co-host of 'CBS Mornings', sources told the New York Post Wednesday.
King, 71, is currently seen as too expensive, the insiders said. She currently makes about $13million-a-year, according to the Post.
Several other sources told Variety earlier in the day that Weiss wants to reduce King's salary. One source who spoke with the publication put King's pay, 'at around $15 million a year'.
King joined CBS News in 2011 and has hosted CBS Mornings since the start of the following year.
Her contract is set to expire in May. Sources told the Daily Mail back in August that King's contract would 'most likely' not be renewed when it does.
Weiss however, has offered King an olive branch in the form of multiple other positions that would keep her on, sources told both the Post and Variety.
Such options include a special correspondent role that would see King still make occasional appearances on CBS News, as well as one that would keep King on the air on CBS Mornings for another year at a lower salary, sources told Variety.
King is said to be considering the options, sources told both publications.
Her former costar, Tony Dokoupil, was recently elevated to host CBS Evening News.
The move from Weiss is one of many to come under a microscope lately.
The former opinion journalist took the reigns at CBS back in October at the behest of Paramount boss David Ellison, who rose to the position after the company's merger with Skydance in August.
Weiss founded the Free Press, but has no experience leading a major news organization.
Matt Gutman - a longtime but little-known former ABC journalist who previously worked at the Jerusalem Post - was Weiss's first hire as editor-in-chief. He is now the network's chief reporter.
Executives at ABC let the longtime correspondent go without a fight, a well-placed source told the Daily Mail last month. Others said the move showed Weiss's inexperience.
The rocky start continued with Weiss’s highly publicized town hall with Erika Kirk last month, which proved to be a ratings flop.
