The inside story of how CBS News ended a correspondent’s 10 years on 60 Minutes has been revealed.
Sharyn Alfonsi, who has been at the storied newsmagazine for a decade, was never directly informed by Bari Weiss’s new-look CBS News that her contract would not be renewed when it expired over the weekend, Status reported.
Her representatives were kept in the dark throughout the process, it added. Under the structure of her deal, Alfonsi now technically remains in professional limbo as an at-will employee unless CBS News formally terminates her. Alfonsi told The New York Times she had no intention of making it easy for CBS News by resigning. “They’ll have to fire me,” she said.
Alfonsi went public with a sweeping rebuke of CBS News leadership, publishing a statement accusing the network of “a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting” and warning that the move “sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom.” Her attempts to resolve matters, she said, had been “met with absolute silence from network executives.”
The two sides’ relationship had curdled over a 60 Minutes investigation into the Trump administration’s deportations to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, which editor-in-chief Bari Weiss held for weeks over concerns it did not “advance the story.”
In December, Alfonsi sent an internal email accusing leadership of spiking the segment for “political” reasons. Before doing so, Status reports, she privately asked Weiss to call her. Weiss never called. The two have spoken only once, according to a person familiar with the matter—shortly before the CECOT segment finally aired in January.
A CBS spokesperson disputed that account. Weiss, meanwhile, has anonymously badmouthed Alfonsi to members of the media, Status reported in January.
The situation played out publicly at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards at the Lincoln Center on Wednesday night, where 60 Minutes earned 10 nominations for its just-concluded season. Alfonsi flew in from Texas after earning a nomination for her segment “Character A.I.” and received a loud round of applause when anchor Scott Pelley singled her out from the stage. Weiss was not seen among her colleagues in the audience.
Status has also learned that morale at 60 Minutes has deteriorated, with staffers routinely learning about the fates of their colleagues from press reports rather than from Weiss, who has reportedly not meaningfully engaged with the staff. The degree to which Weiss is now driving editorial and personnel decisions marks a sharp departure from the show’s historical autonomy.
Alfonsi’s exit is the second high-profile departure from the program in recent weeks, following Anderson Cooper’s farewell in which he pointedly stressed the importance of the show’s “independence.”
Alfonsi was equally direct. “For the last 60 years, it’s been the same formula: tell the truth, hold the power accountable, don’t blink,” she told the Times. “And it’s unclear what next season looks like.”
She added, “The concern is we’re going to end up with a broadcast that looks like 60 Minutes but doesn’t have the courage or the character to produce 60 Minutes journalism that actually matters.”
CBS has been contacted for comment.
