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CBS News is in the midst of a major controversy, as “60 Minutes” reporter Sharyn Alfonsi has slammed editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’ decision to delay her segment on coverage of El Salvador’s infamous CECOT prison.
Alfonsi, a longtime columnist at the newspaper, finds himself part of the story after he sends a note to colleagues angry about Weiss’ decision to hold the story, “Inside CECOT,” saying it was done for political rather than editorial reasons. The Trump administration did not do well for the CBS interview segment.
This fight has leaked to the public, caused a stir in the media and caused another headache at the Tiffany Network.
Who is Sharyn Alfonsi?
Alfonsi is an investigator for “60 Minutes”. According to her online biography, she first appeared on the show in 2015, and has won several awards, including two Emmys for her coverage of the survivors of the 2018 Parkland school shooting.
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Sharyn Alfonsi accused Bari Weiss, right, of withholding her “60 Minutes” story for political, not editorial, reasons. (Michele Crowe/CBS via Getty Images; Noam Galai/Getty Images for The Free Press)
He rejoined CBS after working at ABC News. He worked as a correspondent for CBS New York and other local CBS-owned outlets before going to ABC.
He has done various “60 Minutes” profiles and investigative segments, including the death of Jeffrey Epstein, and reported on war zones, including coverage of Biden’s 2021 troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. His latest story delved into the dangers of AI bots talking to children.
What is his CECOT story about?
Alfonsi’s segment on “Inside CECOT” was to interview other deportees from the notorious prison, who “describe the brutal and torturous conditions” there.
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Inmates with MS-13 gang tattoos are seen outside their cell as Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visits the Center for Detention of Terrorists (CECOT) on March 26, 2025, in Tecoluca, El Salvador. (Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)
“Earlier this year, the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelan immigrants from El Salvador, a country with which it has no ties, saying they were terrorists. The move sparked an ongoing legal battle, and nine months later the US government has not released the names of all those deported and placed in CECOT, one of El Salvador’s toughest prisons.”
Did Alfonsi have a controversial report before this?
Alfonsi first sparked outrage in 2021 with a segment on “60 Minutes” where he challenged Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida also painted the story that he had given the supermarket chain Publix special treatment in distributing COVID vaccines because its PAC had donated $100,000 to his campaign.
However, the story came under heavy criticism, including from Democrats like Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz. Publix had more than 800 locations in the state, making it an ideal place to distribute vaccines in a state with a large elderly population.
Also, Publix dismissed the idea that it was actually bribing DeSantis, calling the suggestion “false and offensive.”
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CBS stood by the story at that point, or the “pay-to-play” story was dismissed. In addition, DeSantis accused CBS of cheaply editing the back-and-forth it aired between him and Alfonsi that left out the context of the story.
What did he write about his story with Bari Weiss?
In a memo that was quickly leaked to the media Sunday night, Alfonsi told colleagues that Weiss talked about the matter and did not give him a chance to discuss it.
“Our story was filtered five times and cleared by both CBS and Standards and Practices lawyers,” Alfonsi wrote. “It’s absolutely true. In my opinion, taking it out now, after it has met a rigorous internal review, is not a planning decision, it’s a political one.”
He added that “60 Minutes” made requests for comment from the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department. Their silence was their statement, he wrote, and allowing that to delay the issue effectively gave them veto power.
“If management’s refusal to participate becomes a legitimate reason to talk about a story, give them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find disturbing,” he wrote.
Leaving sources who spoke to them at their own risk, Alfonsi said, would be a mistake.
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“We have been promoting this issue on social media for days,” wrote Alfonsi. “Our viewers expect it. If it fails to air without a truthful explanation, the public will rightly identify this as corporate censorship. We’re trading 50 years of the ‘gold standard’ for one week of political silence.”
In his memo, he also used the famous saga of Jeffrey Wigand, where “60 Minutes” was pressured by corporate executives not to discuss an interview with the tobacco industry for fear of a lawsuit. The scandal was a black eye for the network and was the subject of the 1999 film “The Insider.”
What did Bari Weiss say about the story?
Weiss defended the decision to hold the hearing, saying it wasn’t ready to be heard and didn’t move the issue forward in a meaningful way.
“My job is to make sure that all the stories we publish are of a high standard,” he said in a statement on Sunday. “Catching stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason — that they lack enough context, say, or that they lack critical words — happens every day on every news platform. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready.”
On Monday, he told staff on a morning editorial call, “The only newsroom I like to run is one where we can disagree about the most painful editorial issues respectfully, and, most importantly, where we take the best interest of our colleagues. Anything else is absolutely unacceptable.”
CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss sent a note to staff asking each member of the organization to be specific about what they are doing, and what they believe is working or not. (Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Uber, X and Free Press)
“I withheld the ’60 Minutes’ story because it wasn’t ready yet. Although the story presented strong evidence of abuse at CECOT, it didn’t go any further than football – [New York] Times and other stores have done similar work before. The public knows that Venezuelans have been mistreated in this prison. To run a story on this topic two months later, we need to do more. And this is ’60 Minutes.’ We need to be able to get the principals on record and on camera. Our viewers come first. Not a listing program or anything else. That’s my north star and I hope it’s yours, too.”
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According to reports, Weiss reviewed the story on Thursday and ultimately decided it wasn’t ready to go on the air, saying there was no response on the record from the Trump administration.
Executive producer Tanya Simon, according to the Washington Post, said during a private meeting that she stood by the story but could not confirm Weiss.
“In the end, our senior editor had a different idea of what the piece should be, and it came late, and we weren’t in a position to deal with the notes,” said EP Tanya Simon, according to a transcript of the meeting obtained by the Post. “We backed down, we defended our case, but he wanted changes, in the end I had to do that.”
Weiss is already a bit of a lightning rod given her ideological background and pushback from “woke” opinion, and some of her moves and statements during her short tenure at the helm of CBS News have angered media liberals.
President Donald Trump has reached a settlement with CBS News and its parent company over what he alleges was election meddling over how “60 Minutes” edited his interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. (Left: (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images), Middle: Screenshot/60Minutes, Right: (Photo by Andy Manis/Getty Images))
What other controversies has “60 Minutes” been involved in lately?
The game is still smart in President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the network over how it arranged an interview with 2024 opponent Kamala Harris. Trump accused the network of election meddling in the way it aired parts of Harris’ response about Israel on two separate nights before the election.
Trump is suing parent company Paramount and CBS for $20 billion. Behind the scenes, Paramount was seeking approval from the Trump administration for its merger with Skydance Media. In the end, Trump received a $16 million settlement that included legal fees, court costs, and donations to his future presidential library or charity.
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The incident left the “60 Minutes” staff angry that their parent had paid them, as late-night host Stephen Colbert put it, “a large bribe” to end the merger, despite the network’s lawyers saying the lawsuit was frivolous.
Fox News Digital has reached out to CBS and Alfonsi for comment.
