‘60 Minutes’ in Turmoil as Reporter Slams New CBS Chief for ‘Political’ Censorship

A firestorm has erupted inside CBS News after its flagship program, *60 Minutes*, abruptly pulled a segment critical of the Trump administration’s deportation policies just three hours before it was scheduled to air. The correspondent behind the story is now publicly accusing her new boss of “corporate censorship.”

In a scathing email to fellow correspondents obtained by *The Wall Street Journal*, veteran journalist Sharyn Alfonsi wrote that new CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss “spiked our story” in what she called a “political” decision, not an editorial one.

The segment in question focused on Venezuelan men deported from the U.S. by the Trump administration and sent to a notorious maximum-security prison in El Salvador. As recently as Friday, CBS was promoting the piece, highlighting Alfonsi’s interviews with men who described “the brutal and torturous conditions they endured.”

Alfonsi didn’t hold back in her email.

> “Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct,” she wrote. “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.”

She added, “We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state.” Alfonsi also called the decision a “betrayal” of the sources who risked their lives to speak out, abandoning the core journalistic tenet of “giving voice to the voiceless.”

In a statement, Weiss defended her call. “My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be,” she said, explaining she held the story because it wasn't ready, lacking “sufficient context” and “critical voices.” *The New York Times* reported that Weiss had suggested the *60 Minutes* team interview Stephen Miller, a key architect of Trump's hardline immigration policies.

Weiss was appointed to her role in October after CBS's parent company, Paramount Skydance, acquired her independent news site, *The Free Press*. She has been tasked with a broad overhaul of the news division.

The controversy strikes at the heart of journalistic ethics, especially concerning an administration whose deportation policies are disapproved of by 50% of U.S. adults, according to a recent Pew Research Center study.

Alfonsi signed off her email with a stark warning: “We are trading 50 years of ‘Gold Standard’ reputation for a single week of political quiet. I care too much about this broadcast to watch it be dismantled without a fight.”

**PRISM Insight:** The conflict at CBS is a microcosm of a larger identity crisis gripping legacy media. As new leadership, often from the world of independent and opinion-driven media, takes the helm, a fundamental clash is emerging. This incident raises a critical question: is the definition of 'balance' shifting to a point where it gives political actors an effective veto over stories they simply don't like?