Producers of the “60 Minutes” segment on the Trump administration’s deportation efforts to an El Salvadorian prison initially sought an interview with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in November before they were rejected, weeks before CBS News’ editor in chief, Bari Weiss, spiked the segment for a lack of on-record voices.
CBS News on Sunday pulled a “60 Minutes” segment by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi on the Trump administration’s shipment of Venezuelan migrants to a prison in El Salvador, and Weiss told staffers just days beforehand that she wanted on-record Trump administration responses beyond their refusal to comment. But the segment’s producers had followed up with the department throughout December to land an interview with Noem, according to a CNN report.
Noem’s press secretary told the outlet on Dec. 15 that the department “will let you know when we can accommodate this but not right now.” The show then sent the department a list of questions. It also reached out to the White House on Dec. 18, and a spokesperson told them that “60 Minutes should spend their time and energy amplifying the stories of Angel Parents, whose innocent American children have tragically been murdered by vicious illegal aliens that President Trump are removing from the country.”
Neither the White House’s statement nor the department’s responses to the questions made their way into the edited, nearly 14-minute-long segment that, while pulled from the U.S. edition, briefly aired online in Canada. The segment said that the Department of Homeland Security declined a request for an interview “and referred our questions to El Salvador,” which did not respond.
A spokesperson for “60 Minutes” did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
Critics have accused Weiss and David Ellison, Paramount’s CEO, of making the decision to appease President Donald Trump, who last week said “60 Minutes” has treated him “far worse“ under Ellison’s leadership. Concern also mounted that waiting for the government’s response, or lack thereof, could allow them to effectively kill a story.
Alfonsi defended the segment, and its lack of government comment, in a note to her colleagues on Sunday after news of its delay broke. She said the piece had been screened and fact-checked by CBS lawyers and Standards and Practices.
“If the standard for airing a story is that ‘the government must agree to be interviewed,’ then the government effectively gains control over the ’60 Minutes’ broadcast,” Alfonsi wrote. “We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state.”
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