MAGA-curious CBS News chief Bari Weiss has reportedly been venting to journalists about a 60 Minutes correspondent who stood up to her decision to pull a politically sensitive report just before broadcast.
Weiss, a TV novice who was parachuted into the role of editor-in-chief by nepo-billionaire David Ellison after his Paramount takeover last year, is said to have targeted veteran correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi in background briefings with selected reporters.
Status reported on Tuesday night that Weiss, 41, had contacted several journalists who had covered the firestorm surrounding her decision in December to abruptly pull a 60 Minutes episode anchored by Alfonsi on El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison.
As Status’ Oliver Darcy notes, Weiss’ decision to contact reporters and speak to them on background—allowing them to report what she had said without directly attributing it to her—was unusual enough, but was made even stranger by the frustrations Weiss expressed during the phone calls, particularly with Alfonsi. The Daily Beast has contacted CBS News for comment.
Alfonsi, 53, who has worked for 60 Minutes for a decade, declined to make changes to her report despite Weiss’ insistence that the segment “needed additional reporting,” with insiders suggesting the segment reflected negatively on the Trump administration.
In an email to her colleagues, Alfonsi slammed the decision as an example of “corporate censorship” and a “betrayal of the most basic tenet of journalism.”
“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” Alfonsi wrote. “It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now—after every rigorous internal check has been met is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”
Weiss told The New York Times, “My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason—that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices—happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready."
The Times reported last month that Weiss had suggested White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller as an interviewee for the segment in order to provide “balance” to the piece. Miller has overseen the most brutal aspects of the anti-immigration crackdown that has come to define Trump’s second term in office, including deporting immigrants to CECOT.
The segment eventually aired on Sunday, four weeks late, and featured a pointed note from Alfonsi at the beginning of the episode that Trump administration officials repeatedly declined to be interviewed on camera. It had previously been leaked online after Canadian broadcaster Global TV aired the segment in December.
Status said its airing prompted Weiss to contact the journalists because “she wanted to personally explain to reporters how it made its way to air and offer her perspective on the whole fiasco.”
A 60 Minutes staffer who spoke to Status criticized Weiss’ conduct, accusing the editor-in-chief of deflecting the criticism she has received from multiple angles since landing the job by blaming her subordinates.
“The reality is the 60 Minutes staff are the best of the best,” the staffer told the outlet. “Of course, there’s going to be friction when Bari walks in acting like she owns the place. These are the people who built it. You don’t gain and build trust when you insult us, come in and say we’re biased, don’t learn the place [and] how we work, the fact-checking and research involved.”
