BY: Denver Sean
Published 35 minutes ago
CBS News announced it would pull a “60 Minutes” report about the Trump administration sending detainees to a maximum security “mega prison” in El Salvador just hours before its scheduled broadcast Sunday.
Despite being pulled from US broadcast, the segment aired on Global TV, a network that airs “60 Minutes” in Canada and is now circulating online.
“The broadcast lineup for tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes has been updated,” the news magazine series posted on social media just three hours before airtime. “Our report ‘Inside CECOT’ will air in a future broadcast.
In a statement obtained by NBC News, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss said: “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,” she added.
Weiss addressed the matter during the newsroom’s Monday morning editorial conference call, according to a source, saying in part that the segment did not contain enough new information.
“While the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball — the Times and other outlets have previously done similar work,” Weiss said, referring to The New York Times.
“The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more. And this is ’60 Minutes.’ We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera,” she added, according to a transcript of her remarks shared with NBC News.
“Our viewers come first. Not the listing schedule or anything else. That’s my north star and I hope it’s yours, too,” Weiss said in closing.
The network had already released on air and online a preview of the segment, which profiled detainees who were deported from the United States to El Salvador’s notorious Center for the Confinement of Terrorism, or CECOT.
In one clip, “60 Minutes” correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi said the prisoners had been “shackled [and] paraded in front of cameras,” adding that they had endured “four months of hell” at the facility.
The Trump administration sent about 250 Venezuelan men to CECOT in March and has accused them of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Many of the men and some of their families and attorneys have denied the claim.
By early Monday, a “60 Minutes” webpage promoting the report had been removed. Instead, it read: “The page cannot be found. The page may have been removed, had its name changed, or is just temporarily unavailable.”
However, video of the segment made the rounds on social media Monday afternoon after it apparently ran on Global TV, a network that airs “60 Minutes” in Canada.
Alfonsi accused the network of pulling the segment for “political” reasons, according to a private note sent to CBS colleagues that was obtained by NBC News.
“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” Alfonsi wrote in the note.
“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 said in the note.
Alfonsi said her team had requested comment on her reporting from the White House, the State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security.
“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 said.
Weiss started providing feedback to “60 Minutes” executive producer Tanya Simon late Friday, according to an employee of the show. She did not reach out to Alfonsi or her producers, the employee said. Weiss relayed more extensive notes on Saturday and expressed a desire to include an on-camera interview with a White House official.
She ultimately decided to pull the segment late Saturday, according to the employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
CBS News did not immediately respond to a request for comment on that timeline.
When asked for further comment by The New York Times on Sunday night, Alfonsi said: “I refer all questions to Bari Weiss.”
Alfonsi did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment on Monday.
The furor over the segment was the latest in a string of controversies for CBS and its parent company, the newly formed Paramount Skydance.
You can watch the segment here.
