The new leadership of CBS News is facing an outcry over alleged political interference in its coverage after a report on a controversial Salvadoran prison where the Trump administration has deported immigrants was pulled at the eleventh hour.
Criticism of the network grew on Monday after an investigation into alleged abuses at El Salvador’s maximum – security Terrorism Confinement Centre (CECOT) was pulled just hours before it was scheduled to air on the flagship 60 Minutes current affairs programme the previous night.
The abrupt move led to accusations from inside 60 Minutes and across the US media landscape that the broadcaster’s parent company, Paramount Skydance, appeared to be censoring news content to curry favour with the Trump administration.
A CBS News spokesperson said in an email that the segment “needed additional reporting”, while a statement posted on the show’s social media pages said the report – “Inside CECOT” – “will air in a future broadcast”.
However, in an email to CBS News colleagues, which was reported by the US media after being leaked, Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent who reported the piece, said the report had been pulled for “political” reasons.
“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” Alfonsi wrote.
“It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.”
She added: “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.”
‘Abuses’ at mega-prison
The story – circulated online on Monday after it appeared to have streamed on Canada’s Global TV app – included allegations that Venezuelan deportees sent to the mega-prison had been tortured, and raised questions about how the United States characterised them.
Located on the edge of a jungle 75km (47 miles) southeast of San Salvador, CECOT is a huge, maximum-security facility touted by El Salvador’s right-wing President Nayib Bukele as the centrepiece of his attempt to tackle narcotics gangs.
The facility has been at the centre of a major US legal case since March, when the Trump administration sent hundreds of Venezuelan and other migrants there, despite a judge’s order that they be returned to the US.
Several deportees who have since been released have described repeated abuse at the facility, where human rights activists say inmates are treated brutally.
Push for ‘varied perspectives’ at network
The broadcaster’s decision to postpone the story follows growing criticism that it is increasingly pivoting towards an editorial line more in step with the conservative Trump administration.
Skydance Media, run by David Ellison – the son of Larry Ellison, a key donor to President Donald Trump ahead of his election last year – acquired Paramount in August, with regulatory approval for the deal helped along by a pledge that CBS News would reflect the “varied ideological perspectives” of US viewers.
In October, the company named conservative media figure Bari Weiss, known for her pro-Israel positions and frequent criticism of “woke” politics, as the editor-in-chief of CBS News, as part of what critics said was a push to steer the network in a direction more aligned with the Trump administration.
The outcry over the pulled story comes as Paramount Skydance is in a multibillion-dollar bidding war with Netflix to buy Warner Bros Discovery – a merger Trump has signalled he is watching closely, and which will likely require regulatory approval.
In a statement to The New York Times, Weiss said the network would be “airing this important piece when it’s ready” and downplayed the significance of the decision to postpone its airing.
“Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason – that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices – happens every day in every newsroom.”
The executive producer of 60 Minutes, Tanya Simon, told fellow employees that she had resisted Weiss’s order, but “ultimately had to comply”.
“We pushed back, we defended our story, but she wanted changes,” Simon was quoted as saying by The Washington Post, in a transcript of the producer’s private meeting with colleagues.
‘A free press doesn’t kowtow’
The network’s decision to postpone the story has drawn widespread criticism across the US political and media spheres, with many voices expressing concerns that CBS News was already forgoing its journalistic obligations by censoring to curry favour with the Trump administration.
In an X post on Monday, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump “and his billionaire buddies are trying to shape what people see and hear to create their own alternative reality”.
“The Trump administration doesn’t have a veto on what stories get told,” he added. “A free press doesn’t kowtow to the president – it holds him accountable.”
Liberal magazine The New Republic posted that the episode showed that political censorship of the media under the Trump administration was “already happening”, while Norm Ornstein, political scientist and contributing editor to The Atlantic magazine, wrote that the incident was “beyond monstrous”.
“There goes CBS,” posted podcaster and activist Amy Suskind. “All it took was Trump posting on social media about Warner Bros takeover. Weak capitulation!”
Columnist Matthew Yglesias wrote that it was “hilarious” that the report had leaked online despite it being blocked by CBS News executives.
“Canceling a news broadcast to curry favour with the regime and then accidentally releasing it in Canada anyway is genuinely hilarious,” he said.
