‘60 Minutes’ Abruptly Pulls Segment on Trump Deportees Sent to El Salvador Megaprison
· Yahoo News“60 Minutes” abruptly pulled a segment Sunday on the Trump administration deporting hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to a megaprison in El Salvador, a stunning move that comes on the heels of President Donald Trump complaining that the CBS newsmagazine has “treated him far worse” under new management.
For days, CBS had been promoting Sunday’s segment, “Inside CECOT,” which promised to reveal “brutal and torturous conditions” inside El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center. Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi had spoken to now released deportees, according to a Friday press release. But the segment was pulled Sunday evening, around two hours before it was to set to air.
“The 60 Minutes report on ‘Inside CECOT’ will air in a future broadcast,” CBS told TheWrap in a statement. “We determined it needed additional reporting.”
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Alfonsi sent an indignant internal memo to colleagues saying that pulling the segment “is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.” The memo was immediately leaked.
She wrote: “If the standard for airing a story is that ‘the government must agree to be interviewed,’ then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state.”
Alfonsi said the segment had been screened and fact-checked by CBS lawyers and Standards and Practices. Editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, who watched it Friday, decided to hold it.
Weiss responded on Sunday: “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. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready.”
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But the decision to pull such a heavily promoted and presumably hard-hitting segment on the Trump administration is sure to come under intense scrutiny given the president’s recent comments about “60 Minutes” and his relationship with David Ellison, who now runs CBS News-parent Paramount.
Social media exploded on Sunday night with criticism of Weiss, declaring that she had failed her own standard that she announced in ascending to the role of running CBS News, “to seek the truth and tell it plainly.”
“If this decision is not reversed, if CBS News will only run a piece if WH comments, giving them veto power over journalism, any staff member w integrity will likely quit, bc it isn’t a news division anymore. It’s TASS,” said veteran reporter Bill Carter, referring to the Soviet-era news agency.
But “60 Minutes” has lately run afoul of Trump yet again. Earlier this month, after “60 Minutes” aired an interview with his former ally turned critic Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump referenced the settlement in taking aim at ownership.
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Last week, Trump unloaded again, “For those people that think I am close with the new owners of CBS, please understand that ‘60 Minutes’ has treated me far worse since the so-called ‘takeover,’ than they have ever treated me before. If they are friends, I’d hate to see my enemies.”
Trump sued CBS last year over how “60 Minutes” edited an interview with his then-2024 rival, Kamala Harris. The network initially dismissed Trump’s suit as “without merit” and vowed to “vigorously defend” itself. But CBS-parent Paramount settled with Trump for $16 million in July as the company was seeking FCC approval to merge with Ellison’s Skydance.
Since the merger, Ellison appointed Weiss, the co-founder of the Free Press, to serve as editor-in-chief. Trump has praised Weiss in the past, as well as Ellison, who is now vying to takeover Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN. Ellison’s father, billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, is a Trump supporter.
Trump returned to “60 Minutes” last month for his first interview since the settlement. “I see good things happening in the news. I really do. And I think one of the best things to happen is this show and new ownership, CBS and new ownership,” Trump said. “I think it’s the greatest thing that’s happened in a long time to a free and open and good press.”
Watch a teaser for the “60 Minutes” segment below:
The post ‘60 Minutes’ Abruptly Pulls Segment on Trump Deportees Sent to El Salvador Megaprison appeared first on TheWrap.