The turmoil surrounding 60 Minutes is hardly a fresh story. As America’s most-watched news program, it has found itself under fire from Donald Trump since the network dared to disclose the reason behind his absence from a 2024 election interview.
In a dramatic twist, Trump initiated a questionable defamation lawsuit against both 60 Minutes and CBS News. Paramount, aiming to smooth the way for its merger with Skydance—managed by Trump’s associates, the Ellisons—quickly settled. Following the takeover of CBS, the Ellisons appointed Trump ally Bari Weiss as president of CBS News.
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It was only a matter of time before Weiss began to dance to Trump’s tune, notably when the program aired a segment on Trump’s deportation of immigrants to a brutal prison in El Salvador, marking the onset of palpable censorship.
Over the weekend, Weiss triggered a crisis within “60 Minutes” by shelving Sharyn Alfonsi’s report on Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration to a notorious maximum-security prison in El Salvador.
Alfonsi noted in an internal memo that “the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship.” Weiss countered, claiming the story was “not ready.”
In her defense, Weiss stated, “I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready.”
However, what Weiss meant by “not ready” was that the report lacked an interview with a high-ranking Trump administration official.
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