CBS News head Bari Weiss fired back at criticism from a CBS reporter over her decision to pull a "60 Minutes" report that was expected to be critical of the Trump administration. The reporter who oversaw the segment subsequently went public and called out her boss by providing behind the scenes details about the reporting interference.
Hours before the scheduled broadcast of an investigation into the horrific experiences of migrants detained by ICE and transferred to El Salvador's CECOT prison facility, Weiss pulled the report despite its having been reviewed and approved multiple times by the network's legal team and Standards and Practices office.
Weiss initially justified the decision by claiming the report lacked a response from the Trump administration. However, the reporter indicated that a response had been requested, but not provided by the administration.
The spiking of the story led the reporter Sharyn Alfonsi to send an email to her colleagues stating, “Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. 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."
Faced with widespread criticism, which has been a hallmark of her tenure since she was hired to head the news division despite her lack of qualifications, Weiss fired back at Alfonsi during a staff conference call on Monday morning.
According to Justin Baragoina of The Independent, Weiss “lashed” out and began, ”The only newsroom that I'm interested in running is one where we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest of editorial matters, and do so with respect."
She then offered, “I held that story because it wasn't ready. The story presented very powerful testimony of abuse in CECOT, but that testimony has already been reported... The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment in this prison... we simply need to do more."
“We need to be able to make every effort to get the principals on the record and on camera. To me, our viewers come first, not a listing schedule or anything else. And that is my North Star, and I hope it's the North Star of every person in this newsroom.” she added.