CBS News anchor Scott Pelley fired off in frustration against the network’s new boss, Bari Weiss, over her intervention to spike a long-developing story that was going to cover the brutal conditions in the Salvadoran CECOT megaprison, where President Donald Trump has sent large numbers of unauthorized immigrants.
Weiss, a right-wing editor who founded The Free Press before being appointed in charge of CBS as part of a Trump administration-approved merger with Paramount, had claimed that the story did not sufficiently add new information to the ongoing story of mistreatment of inmates at the site, and that such stories can’t run without comment from the Trump administration — which CBS reporters requested and did not receive.
However, according to The New York Times’ Michael Grynbaum, “At a somber ’60 Minutes’ staff meeting today, Scott Pelley & others expressed frustration at Bari Weiss’s handling of last night’s canceled segment & management style. ‘It’s not a part-time job,’ Pelley said, referring to Weiss missing screenings of the segment, per sources.”
Sharyn Alfonsi, a reporter behind the killed CECOT story, criticized Weiss’s reasoning earlier in the day, saying in an email, “Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch” for any reporting they find inconvenient.” Weiss hit back in a staff conference call, saying, ”The only newsroom that I’m interested in running is one where we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest of editorial matters, and do so with respect.”
But according to Grynbaum, Alfonsi replied by pointing out that Weiss did not contact her before spiking the segment and saying, “Disagreement requires discussion.”
Pelley has previously gone on air to publicly criticize CBS management under Weiss, saying that Paramount has been interfering in the editorial process.
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