Editor-in-chief of CBS News Bari Weiss She reportedly explained to network staff that she axed a 60 Minutes investigation into the Trump administration’s deportation policy from the Sunday show because the work was too “similar” to reporting from other outlets and “didn’t advance the ball.”
The segment, promoted publicly on Friday by the network but abruptly pulled before the broadcast, was reported by the correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi and examined migrants deported to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison.
An internal email from Alfonsi to news staff calling Weiss’ decision “political” and a form of “corporate censorship” went viral on Sunday night after the editor-in-chief reportedly expressed concern about the administration’s lack of on-camera response.
On a CBS newsroom call at 9am, however, Weiss reportedly blasted the report for not producing anything new and simply recycling reporting pushed by the New York Times and others only “two months later.”
“I have a 60 Minutes story because it wasn’t ready. While the story presented powerful evidence of torture at CECOT, it didn’t move the ball forward – the Times and other stores have previously done similar work,” she said, according to a transcript from sources on the call sent to CNN. Brian Stelter.
She continued: “The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment in this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more. And this is 60 Minutes. We want to be able to get the principal on record and on camera.”
She added: “Our viewers come first. Not the listing schedule or anything else. That’s my north star and I hope it’s yours too.”
In her email, Alfonsi rejected that reason entirely, writing that CBS has repeatedly requested interviews with the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department, all without success.
“Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story,” she wrote. “If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to raise a story, we have effectively given them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.”
Alfonsi stressed that the segment had been screened five times and approved by both legal and standards editors. The reporting, she said, was “factually correct”, and its withdrawal was a “betrayal” of sources who “risked their lives” to testify.
As the rain continues, multiple sources told CNN that staff are now openly questioning whether they can continue to work under current management.
The post Bari Weiss Allegedly Explains to CBS News Staff in Private Call Why She Killed 60 Minutes Segment: ‘She Didn’t Move the Ball’ first appeared on Mediaite.