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After Bari Weis’ very ridiculous decision to spike a 60 minutes Segment on the Trump administration sending Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, Correspondent Scott Pelley Weiss said he needs to take his job as editor-in-chief of CBS News “more seriously” because it is not “part-time.”
Pelley’s sharp comments about the newsroom leader came during the show’s Monday afternoon meeting, where segment reporter Sharyn Alfonsi took issue with Weiss’ lack of communication. last moment postponement of the story Whereas 60 minutes Executive producer Tanya Simon defended Alfonsi’s reporting.
Meanwhile, Weiss has come under increasing criticism for distorting the story, which threatens to spark a network “Rebellion” Alfonsi called it a “political” decision that smacked of corporate interference.
Furthermore, he has also opened himself up to mockery after the CECOT segment Shared widely online on Monday evening After it was discovered that CBS News had apparently given away all the information 60 minutes Canadian network Global TV’s episode before removing Alfonsi’s report. Although the video has been removed from Global, the segment continues to circulate on social media.
A representative for CBS News said, “On Monday, our Canadian broadcast partner, Global TV, accidentally published an ‘Inside CECOT’ segment on their app, which CBS News decided to delay for a future broadcast.” Independent“While Global TV has removed the episode from its app, the segment has since been posted on social and digital media, Paramount’s content protection team is in the process of routinely ordering removals for unaired and unauthorized segments,”
Weiss, the “anti-woke” founder of the center-right blog The Free Press, who was installed as CBS News’ top editor by Paramount Chairman David Ellison in October, defended his decision to remove the section during a Monday morning editorial meeting.
“I stopped that story because it was not ready. Although the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not move the ball forward,” he said, adding that other news organizations had already done similar reporting. “The public knows that Venezuelans are treated horribly in this prison. So two months later to run a story on this topic, we just need to do more, and this is 60 minutes,
Weiss also said that “we need to be able to make every possible effort to get the principals on the record and on camera,” emphasizing that “that’s my North Star, and I hope it’s every person’s North Star in this newsroom.”
Alfonsi, in an email he sent 60 minutes After Weiss pitched her story, which was immediately leaked to the media, colleagues noted that the segment “had been checked five times and cleared by both CBS lawyers and standards and practices” and was factually correct. He said, “In my view, pulling it now — after every rigorous internal investigation — is not an editorial decision, it’s a political decision.”
Alphonsi also pointed out that 60 minutes DHS, the White House, and the State Department were repeatedly contacted for comment on the report.
He declared, “Government silence is a statement, not a veto. The refusal to interview him is a tactical ploy designed to debunk the story.” “If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a legitimate reason to bump a story, then we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ to any reporting they find inconvenient.”
the new York Times Reported this week While Weiss pushed for several changes to the story, particularly taking issue with the description of Venezuelan migrants sent to a violent El Salvador prison and seeking more input from the Trump administration, he did not receive attention until very late in the process.
While this segment was first screened for network journalists on December 12, Weiss did not attend the screening of four others over the following week. TimesIt wasn’t until Thursday that he finally watched the segment and offered his suggestions, which the show incorporated into the story, 60 minutes Then on Friday afternoon the network was told it was OK to promote the report to viewers.
“Then, around midnight on Friday, less than 48 hours before the segment was to air, Ms. Weiss reconsidered, this time with more significant requests,” Times Added. “He asked producers to add a last-minute interview with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — a relatively simple task for a print journalist who only needs to make phone calls, but logistically difficult in TV news, where a camera and lighting crew are often needed.”
some in his memorandum 60 minutes At the end of that week the staff said, “We would be doing our viewers an injustice if this segment was run like this”. Eventually, three hours before the show aired on Sunday, the network issued an editorial note stating that the segment would not be part of that evening’s schedule.
“Ms. Weiss’s allies argue that as editor in chief, she has the clear prerogative to pay attention to any journalism produced by her newsroom,” Times Informed. “Yet, some of her supporters acknowledged privately on Monday that she was still learning the nuances of broadcast journalism and that she had mishandled the timing of her response.”
After Weiss reiterated his decision during a Monday morning editorial call, which also included a dig at Alfonsi for his strongly worded email, the staff 60 minutes Weiss expressed disappointment in how the situation was handled.
Pele, who has expressed his displeasure About corporate interference 60 minutes Previously, concerns had been raised about Weiss’s management style and wondered why she waited until the last minute to offer her suggestions – especially since she had skipped all screenings of the segment.
“This is not a part-time job,” he said at the meeting. Additionally, Pelley said that if Weiss wanted to be more involved in day-to-day editing, 60 minutes In stories, they must not only participate in initial screening but also communicate directly with reporters.
“He needs to take his job a little more seriously,” he said.
Meanwhile, Alfonsi explains that Weiss never reached out to him or his producer during the late push for the segment. “Disagreements require discussion,” Alfonsi said at the meeting.
The reporter’s comments appear to be a response to Weiss’ comments in the editorial call, in which the editor said she wanted a newsroom “where we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest editorial matters and do so with respect.”
As for Weiss’ pressure for a greater response from the administration, which he argued in his weekend memo was necessary because “there’s a real debate going on here” that Trump is “acting within the limits of his authority,” CNN’s Brian Stelter said. Information was given on Tuesday He 60 minutes Made a concerted effort to obtain government responses.
According to Stelter, Alfonsi’s story had been in the works for months, and the first official request for comment – along with an interview with Kristi Noem – was sent to DHS in November.
“Several follow-ups were sent in December. Pretty standard stuff,” Stelter said. “Noem’s press secretary said on December 15, after multiple refusals, ‘We will let you know when we can accommodate it but not now.’ The next day, the ’60’ team sent an extensive list of questions to the department.
Furthermore, when the program reached out to the White House for comment last week, Trump spokeswoman Abigail Jackson responded only by criticizing the media. 60 minutes Decided not to include it in the section.
Jackson wrote back, “Angels should spend 60 minutes of time and energy promoting the stories of parents whose innocent American children have been tragically murdered by the brutal illegal aliens that President Trump is expelling from the country.” 60 minutes,
Ultimately, though, a lot of criticism Weiss’s sudden pressure to fundamentally change the segment and then have it pulled from the air centers on suspicions—both internal and external—that it belonged to Paramount. hostile takeover bid Warner Bros.’s Discovery, which is Trump’s said He will be very “involved”.
While Trump has spent the past few months emphasizing Ellison — whose father is Oracle founder and loyal Trump supporter Larry Ellison — following Ellison’s Paramount merger with Skydance, the president Publicly expressed displeasure over father-son duo Because of his anger recently 60 minutes broadcast.
David Ellison, who has leveraged his family’s close relationship with Trump as a major factor in his WBD proposal. Wanted to calm the President’s anger behind the scenes Claiming that he and Weiss had no advance warning about the Marjorie Taylor Greene segment angry trumpSoon after that story aired, the President complained that Paramount’s new ownership was “no better” than the previous one,
Meanwhile, just hours earlier, Weiss had sent his memo 60 minutes Calling for significant changes and delays to the CECOT story, Trump once again expressed anger about the program and Ellison.
“I like the new owners of CBS,” Trump complained. “However, something happens to them. 60 minutes “Under the new ownership I’ve been treated even worse… They keep hitting me, it’s crazy.”
monday morning, paramount Sent a revised bid to Warner Bros. This includes Larry Ellison agreeing to personally support a $40 billion equity financing – a significant sticking point for WBD’s board of directors.