
Bari Weiss, the out editor in chief of CBS News, stopped 60 Minutes from broadcasting a segment this weekend that showed the horrific conditions faced by people the Trump administration sent to CECOT, an infamously brutal prison camp in El Salvador. An apparent error led to the segment being aired, though, making it clear why the administration and Weiss would not want people to see it.
“We have been promoting this story on social media for days. Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship,” said Sharyn Alfonsi, the 60 Minutes correspondent behind the segment. “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.”
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The segment, which is being shared online, focused on the prison where the Trump administration deported many Venezuelan migrants earlier this year. The administration claimed the men it sent to CECOT had ties to gangs, but there was no due process where evidence could be presented, and several of the men have credibly argued that they are not gang members.
In a clip promoting the segment before it was pulled, Alfonsi says that she spoke with several men who had since been released from the prison and “who describe the brutal and torturous conditions they endured.”
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According to insiders, the segment had been reviewed multiple times and was approved for announcement and promotion on Friday. It was then expected to air on Sunday, but the segment was pulled from the episode only three hours before it was scheduled.
According to sources who spoke with The New York Times, Weiss viewed the segment on Thursday and offered some suggestions, which producers were happy to accommodate. However, on Friday night, Weiss came back with a different tune, asking for much larger changes. Those reportedly included adding an interview with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, for whom she was able to provide contact information.
When it wasn’t possible to get a voice for the Trump administration on record in the short span of time, Weiss pulled the segment, suggesting in a statement on Sunday that it was normal to hold stories that “lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices.” Tanya Simon, the show’s executive producer, said that she stood “100 percent behind Sharyn and her story,” calling it “thoroughly reported.”
However, Canada’s Global TV, which distributes 60 Minutes in the country, might not have received notice that the segment was supposed to be pulled. The originally planned episode aired on their network in its entirety, and copies of the segment have since appeared online. While some might be taken down, it is likely there will always be a copy somewhere, and, as Democratic Congressional candidate George Conway suggested on X, the controversy could make it “the most-watched newsmagazine segment in television history!”
This could wind up being the most-watched newsmagazine segment in television history!!
— George Conway
Congratulations to the Ellisons and Bari Weiss!!! https://t.co/fIxBhemP6A
Source: LGBTQ Nation
