CBS News cut an upcoming "60 Minutes" report at the last minute on the infamous CECOT prison in El Salvador, setting off an outcry on social media.
The network's flagship news magazine had been scheduled to broadcast a report Sunday on a group of Venezuelan men thought they were being deported back to their country of origin, but instead, they were delivered to CECOT, until the plans were scrapped about two hours before the program was set to air.
"The broadcast lineup for tonight's edition of 60 minutes has been updated," the program posted on its social media accounts. "Our report 'Inside CECOT' will air in a future broadcast."
The decision sparked criticism and raised questions about its newly installed editor-in-chief Bari Weiss immediately.
"Murrow dies again," sighed popular Bluesky account Grudgie the Whale.
"A news program with a legacy built up over 55 years," lamented Bluesky user Skeet Child O' Mine. "All torched by Bari Weiss in under a year."
"I grew up watching 60 Minutes every Sunday with my dad," stated Bluesky user Lee Marvin Oswald. "I continued that tradition with my own family. No more. You have really failed us. What a sad end to such a storied and long-running institution. And for what? Pathetic."
"Bari Weiss going from purported brave defender of free speech and open debate to chief censor of reporting about a federal concentration camp is so grimly hilarious," opined Bluesky user Stephen Judkins.
"Bari Weiss is really bad at her job," posted journalist Dave Itzkoff, "until you realize it's her job to be really bad at her job, in which case she is excellent at her job."
"WOW. They're not going to air their special on CECOT," noted popular Bluesky user Mueller, She Wrote. "I'd like to know who made this decision, and whether the federal government had a hand in it."
"Perhaps we should film a debate between a concentration camp guard and an abandoned toilet over whether CECOT is good," suggested journalist Matt Pearce, alluding to another highly criticized recent decision by CBS News. "Brought to you by Bank of America."
"What changed between now & Friday’s press release about this now delayed (or actually canceled?) @60minutes.bsky.social segment on the CECOT torture prison? Seems very odd," pondered journalist Jennifer Schulze. "Anyone know if 60 Minutes has ever delayed a piece at the last minute before?"
"Bari’s CBS pulled their CECOT report which included interviews with immigrants who were tortured in this concentration camp," said journalist Krystall Ball. "The Trump regime does not want you to know what was done to these people."