CBS’ ’60 Minutes’ finally airs delayed migrant prison story
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After being abruptly canceled last month, CBS’s “60 Minutes” finally aired its controversial episode Sunday night about immigrants being deported to El Salvador’s maximum-security prison, CECOT.
“CBS News leadership has always been committed to airing the 60 MINUTES CECOT segment as soon as it is available,” a CBS spokesperson said in a comment to Fox News Digital. he said.
“60 Minutes” postponed the episode hours before it was due to air in December because editor-in-chief Bari Weiss “determined that additional reporting was needed.” However, this episode was previously aired on Canada’s Global TV app and went viral on social media.
WHO IS SHARYN ALFONSI? ’60 MINUTES’ CORRESPONDENT ALLEGES POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN HIS CECOT STORY
CBS abruptly pulled the “Inside CECOT” story in December after Bari Weiss determined she was “not ready.” (John Moore/Getty Images)
The episode largely featured the same beats as the original story, which also featured reporter Sharyn Alfonsi. I’m interviewing two Venezuelan men who were sent to an El Salvador prison last year.
However, the newly aired episode also included additional material recorded by Alfonsi, most importantly including previously unmentioned statements from the Trump administration.
“The White House said in a statement to 60 Minutes, ‘President Trump is committed to keeping his promises to the American people by eliminating dangerous criminal and terrorist illegal aliens…’ “The entire administration’s statements are available online,” Alfonsi said.
CBS DID NOT INCLUDE WHITE HOUSE’S STATEMENT ABOUT ANGEL PARENTS IN THE CECOT SEGMENT ON ’60 MINUTES’
The updated “60 Minutes” included comments from the Trump administration. (Screenshot/CBS News)
Comments from White House press secretary Abigail Jackson and Department of Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin included in the episode were dated December 18 and December 19, respectively, days before the episode first aired.
The original episode did not include comments from the Trump administration; which became one of the factors that led Weiss to take back the news.
Weiss defended his most controversial CBS leadership decision to employees in comments confirmed by Fox News Digital shortly after the delay, saying the story was “not ready.”
’60 MINUTES’ CORRESPONDENT FIGHTS BARI WEISS AFTER BREAKING NEWS IN EL SALVADOR PRISON SECTION
Bari Weiss (right) defended the decision to direct the segment to CBS employees, as did Sharyn Alfonsi, left. (Michele Crowe/CBS via Getty Images; Noam Galai/Getty Images for Free Press)
“I prepared the ’60 Minutes’ story because it wasn’t ready,” Weiss said. “Although the story provided powerful testimony to torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball – [New York] The Times and other media outlets had previously conducted similar studies. The public knows that Venezuelans are subjected to terrible treatment in this prison. We need to do more to publish a story on this issue in two months. And this is ’60 Minutes’. We need to be able to record and videotape principals. Our audience comes first. It’s not a listing program or anything. That’s my north star, and I hope it’s yours too.”
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Fox News Digital has reached out to CBS News for additional comment.
