CBS News fired veteran journalist Sharyn Alfonsi on Thursday, ending a months-long feud between the “60 Minutes” correspondent and the network’s top editor, Bari Weiss.
Alfonsi’s contract with “60 Minutes,” where she had worked as a correspondent since 2015, lapsed on Saturday, but until Thursday she remained employed with CBS.
A representative for Alfonsi confirmed the news of her firing, which was first reported by the New York Times. CBS News did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
“This was not a routine corporate transition; it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting,” she said in a statement Wednesday. “It sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom.”
Alfonsi became the center of a newsroom firestorm in December when Weiss intervened to delay her segment on Venezuelan migrants detained at El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, citing the need for an on-camera interview with a Trump administration official — even though the administration declined to participate. In an email to producers, Alfonsi accused Weiss of handing the administration a “kill switch” over the network’s reporting.
The segment eventually aired in January with minimal changes and without the administration interview Weiss had sought. Instead, Alfonsi narrated a short addendum to the report, which included additional details, disclosures and written statements from the government.
In a statement, Alfonsi said that she and her representation were met with “absolute silence from network executives” since the editorial dispute over the CECOT story.
“In the coming days, network leadership may attempt to hide behind corporate euphemisms like ‘modernization’ and ‘restructuring’ to explain away my departure. Don’t be misled,” she added.
Alfonsi said that CBS management has abandoned its mission of fearless and independent reporting, choosing “access journalism over accountability and protecting power rather than scrutinizing it.”
The New York Times first reported the news of Alfonsi’s departure Wednesday.
This isn’t the first time Alfonsi has spoken about tumult at the network.
Speaking at an award ceremony in April, Alfonsi acknowledged that her job was on the line. “My hope recently has been that I still have a job,” she said. “And every morning I wake up to another headline that says I’ve been fired.”
She also said she refused to change the CECOT report when asked. “Not because I’m a pain in the ass, which I am,” she said, “but because the story was factually correct, and I argued that any change to it might reflect poorly on CBS and 60 Minutes.”
Weiss joined CBS News as top editor in October after Paramount Skydance, the network’s parent company, bought her website the Free Press for $150 million. Since joining, she has overseen an internal culture clash, staff cuts, the closure of CBS News Radio and flagging ratings for her appointed CBS Evening News anchor, Tony Dokoupil.
Meanwhile, Paramount Skydance is awaiting regulatory approval to buy rival Warner Bros. Discovery, which would mean putting CBS News and CNN under the same roof.
“60 Minutes” is one of the most-watched shows on television. It boasted an average of 8.32 million average viewers for its most recent season, which wrapped earlier this month. Anderson Cooper departed the show earlier this year after a two-decade run, he said, in order to spend more time with his family.
He ended his run with a message urging “60 Minutes” to continue its independence. “I hope ‘60 Minutes’ remains ‘60 Minutes,’” he said in a segment for “60 Minutes Overtime.”
In her statement, Alfonsi said that the wall between journalism and business at CBS has been “methodically torn down” — something that could threaten the future of “60 Minutes.”
“Journalists willing to challenge authority are being pushed aside in favor of those who will not,” she said. “If this continues, the result will be a broadcast that looks like 60 Minutes but lacks the courage and character to produce journalism that matters.”
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