CBS Leadership Clash: Weiss Pulls 60 Minutes Segment on Deportations

2025-12-23 companies

New York, Monday, 22 December 2025.
On December 21, 2025, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss abruptly removed a scheduled 60 Minutes segment regarding the Trump administration’s deportation of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. While Weiss cited a need for “principals on the record” to meet editorial standards, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi condemned the move as “political,” warning that allowing government silence to veto reporting effectively hands the administration a “kill switch.” The segment, which had reportedly cleared five internal legal and standards reviews, was pulled just hours before broadcast. This editorial intervention highlights a deepening fracture within the legacy network under its new leadership, raising critical questions about the balance between journalistic rigor and access to power in an increasingly polarized media landscape.

Sudden Schedule Change and Rationale

The decision to pull the segment, titled “Inside CECOT,” was finalized on Sunday, December 21, 2025, just hours before the broadcast was set to air [1][4]. The report, which investigated allegations of abuse at a detention center in El Salvador housing Venezuelan migrants deported by the Trump administration, was replaced in the lineup by a segment filmed in Nottingham, England [5]. CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, who assumed her role in October 2025, argued that the piece required “additional reporting” and specifically noted the necessity of obtaining on-the-record comments from administration officials, such as Stephen Miller, to ensure the story was balanced [1][3]. Weiss viewed the administration’s silence not as a refusal to engage, but as a gap in the reporting that needed to be filled before broadcast [2].

Internal Dissent and “Kill Switch” Allegations

The sudden removal sparked an immediate and sharp internal rebuke from veteran correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi. In an email sent to colleagues on December 21, Alfonsi characterized the move as a “political” decision rather than an editorial one [1][3]. She argued that by allowing the Trump administration’s refusal to comment to effectively kill the story, the network had handed the government a “kill switch” for inconvenient reporting [2]. Weiss addressed these tensions directly during a staff meeting on the morning of December 22, 2025, expressing anger at the leaked internal memo and reiterating that the story “did not advance the ball” beyond what other outlets like The New York Times had already covered [1][2].

Editorial Rigor Versus Political Pressure

The contentious segment focused on the CECOT prison in El Salvador, where the Trump administration sent approximately 250 Venezuelan men in March 2025 under accusations of gang affiliation [4][5]. Alfonsi’s reporting included testimony describing “brutal and tortuous conditions” endured by the deportees [5]. According to Alfonsi, the investigative piece had undergone rigorous vetting, having been screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and the network’s Standards and Practices department prior to its removal [3][6]. This extensive internal clearance has fueled the correspondent’s claim that the decision was driven by external pressure rather than journalistic inadequacy [6].

Strategic Shifts at CBS

The conflict underscores the shifting dynamics at CBS News since Weiss took the helm. This position marks her first role in television news, though she continues to serve as editor of The Free Press [1]. Her leadership style has already drawn attention, including a recent town hall interview with Erika Kirk, the widow of Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, on December 15, 2025 [7]. While Weiss has promised that the CECOT story will air “when it’s ready,” the timeline for its broadcast remains indefinite, leaving the network to navigate internal dissent and external scrutiny regarding its editorial independence [2][6].

Sources

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