The new head of CBS News is drawing criticism for pulling a 60 Minutes segment that focused on the deportation of Venezuelan migrants to a foreign prison.
The segment was available for a short while online in Canada. A viewer posted a recording on YouTube.
The popular news magazine had been promoting a Dec. 21 story from correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who spoke with Venezuelans who had been sent from the US to CECOT, described as a notorious maximum security prison in El Salvador. But over the weekend, CBS Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss delayed the segment, citing the need for additional reporting.
“My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be,” she said in a statement. “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.”
Alfonsi said in a memo circulated by various news outlets that her story was screened five times and cleared by CBS attorneys and standards officials. She sought comment from US officials, who declined to participate. “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 wrote.
Alfonsi didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The move heightened concerns in media circles that CBS is under pressure to kowtow to the administration of President Donald Trump after regulators approved an acquisition of CBS’ parent company. The family of Larry and David Ellison acquired control of Paramount in August through a merger with their Skydance Media, a deal that included the venerable news division that has frequently landed in Trump’s crosshairs.
Paramount Skydance Corp. is now trying to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., a deal that will require federal approval.
“Pulling punches that could hurt Trump may ultimately turn out to be the new reality at 60 Minutes, but that remains to be seen,” said Clay Calvert, a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said in an email.
The Federal Communications Commission, the US regulator that oversees commercial use of the airwaves, reviewed the transaction but didn’t grant approval until after Trump negotiated a separate $16 million settlement with CBS in a lawsuit regarding an earlier 60 Minutes segment.
The Ellisons, known as friends of Trump, soon after acquired Weiss’ media company, the Free Press, and installed her as head of CBS News. Weiss has frequently been critical of the mainstream press.
Her contributions at the network have included scoring an interview with Trump, as well as Erica Kirk, the wife of slain activist Charlie Kirk and now CEO of his group Turning Point USA. She’s also made changes to staff.
Anna Gomez, the only Democratic FCC member, said the latest 60 Minutes controversy amplifies concerns she had when her agency reviewed the Skydance-Paramount deal.
“When the FCC withheld approval of Paramount’s transaction to extract sweeping concessions, I warned that allowing the government to wield regulatory leverage in newsroom decision-making would inevitably threaten independent journalism,” Gomez said in a statement. “We are now seeing the real-world consequences of blurring the line between regulatory authority and editorial independence.”
She said that a policy that requires government participation in newsroom coverage could chill free speech.
“A free press cannot function if the government is able to exercise veto power over critical reporting simply by refusing to engage,” Gomez said. “That is fundamentally incompatible with the First Amendment and the role of journalists in holding those in power to account.”
The 60 Minutes decision also drew an outcry from Democratic members of Congress, including Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and Connecticut’s Chris Murphy.
Chris Van Hollen, a senator from Maryland, said the latest controversy at CBS is an example of “what we’ve been warning about.”
“Trump’s attacks on the media are having their intended effect: Increasingly compliant elements of the corporate media are unwilling or afraid to take him on — which poses a direct threat to a free press,” he wrote on social media.
