Cecilia Vega revealed Thursday that she still doesn’t know why she was fired from CBS’ “60 Minutes” this past spring.
The journalist, who was the first Latina correspondent for the storied news program, addressed her departure from “60 Minutes” during her appearance at the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Conference and Expo in New Orleans, La.
“I don’t know why I was fired,” Vega told moderator John Quiñones, per Status. “It’s been about three months now … and I don’t know. I was not given a reason. I still have not been given a reason.”
Though, elsewhere in the onstage interview with Quiñones, Vega reflected on how her experience with editorial leadership changed towards the end of her time at “60 Minutes.” Namely, she expanded on her prior accusation that leadership, which includes CBS Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss, previously tried to “insert political bias” into her pieces.
“Never in my career until now have I felt that those edits, those suggestions, came from a place of misinformation or politics,” Vega said at one point. “That’s the difference.”
At one point, Vega admitted she had been “scared” to discuss her exit from “60 Minutes,” but acknowledged that “there is a lot at stake.”
“It’s not that I just lost a job. There is a lot at stake,” she said. “Sometimes you got to be scared and do it still.”
Per the outlet, Vega shared multiple examples of alleged times management tried to interfere with one of her stories. For instance, following the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE, Vega claimed she was encouraged to use footage of protesters attacking civilians they thought were officers in everyday clothes. Vega noted she and her team were unable to find “credible examples” of this requested footage.
Additionally, Vega said she was asked to include a moment of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stating in a press conference that he wanted the police to fight ICE agents enforcing immigration policies. Per Vega, her team watched every frame of the footage and did not find the moment in-question.
“That never happened,” she recalled. “We could not find any instance of the mayor saying something like that.”
Vega remembered being told another time to open one of her pieces with, “Who is winning the war? Iran is totally outgunned by the United States and Israel,” which she felt was a Trump administration talking point.
She also recalled getting pushback for not interviewing Vice President JD Vance for a story about SNAP benefits cuts in West Virginia – a piece where she was specifically talking to just residents who were impacted.
Vega indicated she stood her ground, however, sharing with the crowd, “If you watch my pieces, you’d see those examples did not make them in.”
While Vega did not directly name Weiss, she did state the “new administration at CBS News” was responsible for the aforementioned feedback, noting that it “started to change when new people started showing up in the screenings and giving their feedback on pieces.”
It was at these screenings that Vega faced “real tension” with leadership, which she said “made me nervous.” Per Vega, she got a “sense” that they weren’t a fan of “this back and forth” over her stories.
A representative for CBS News did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment. Though, a spokesperson did tell TheWrap when Vega made warnings in May of “censorship” and “political bias” at “60 Minutes,” “We respect Ms. Vega and her contributions, but her claims are not based in reality.”
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