Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
A group of former CBS News staffers are circulating an open letter urging Paramount CEO David Ellison to “send a message” to CBS News Editor-in-Chief Barry Weiss following the incident she nailed one 60 minutes part Last-minute investigation into notorious Sekot prison launched, according to copy of memo obtained independent.
new york post Was first person to report about the petition and emails sent to other “prominent journalists,” noting that the letter will be published on January 3.
“As a former CBS News reporter, you have undoubtedly followed recent challenges 60 minutes“,” the email read, sharing a link to the memo. “A group of prominent journalists wrote an open letter to Paramount CEO David Ellison expressing concerns about the editorial independence of CBS News. “
In an open letter addressed directly to Ellison, the signatories declared their “solidarity” with 60 minutes Weiss’ production team at “Inside CECOT” pulled the story shortly before it aired on Dec. 21. They also noted that it marked a “breakdown in editorial oversight” and risked “setting a dangerous precedent in a country that has traditionally valued press freedom.”
independent CBS News has been contacted for comment. A representative for Paramount declined to comment on the letter because they have not yet received it.
“It seems to be circulating only around former CBS staffers,” a source familiar with the matter said. independentpointing out that some “big names” like Danrath and Katie Couric could be targets of the petition.
The letter raised particular questions about Weiss’s defense of withdrawing the story, which focused on the Trump administration’s deportations of Venezuelan migrants to notorious Salvadoran prisons and the harsh treatment of detainees.
in a Send memo to 60 minutes staff Just before she took down the story, Weiss wrote in the clip, “We will not present arguments for why the administration sent 252 Venezuelans to CECOT.” She also suggested they invite Trump border czar Tom Homan or White House adviser Stephen Miller for an interview, noting that she could arrange the call.
“Weiss made a last-minute offer to delay the report until White House officials were involved, despite reports of White House efforts 60 minutes “Her suggestion that they interview White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller proved particularly troublesome,” the letter states. Miller went on to call for everyone at CBS News involved in producing the report to be fired. “
In fact, Miller said in an interview with Fox News that no CBS News staff member was involved “rebel” against wes should terminate The network should be “cleaned up”. Wes, The “anti-woke” founder of Hurriyet Ellison followed up on Miller’s edict by appointing him to the top of CBS News in October Attached Christmas Eve email This solidified her decision to cancel the segment.
“[S]Sometimes that means publishing an article on an important topic, making sure it’s comprehensive and fair. “Weiss – who No radio and television experience before taking over CBS News – wrote that retracting the segment was necessary to “win back the trust” of Americans who have lost faith in mainstream media.
Meanwhile, at the end of their letter to Ellison, the reporters called on Ellison to step in and safeguard the company’s independence. 60 minutes.
“We urge you to send a message to news executives that CBS News must respect editorial independence,” the memo states. “Editorial interference that threatens 60 Minutes not only betrays the core principles of journalism, it also jeopardizes the crown jewel of CBS News, which has helped sustain the network financially and editorially for generations.”
in an email to her 60 minutes After Weiss published the story, Sharyn Alfonsi, the segment’s reporter, noted that they had repeatedly “requested responses and/or interviews to questions from DHS, the White House, and the State Department,” adding that “the administration’s silence is a statement, not a veto.”
Noting that the segment “went through five screenings and was approved by CBS lawyers and the Department of Standards and Practices,” Alfonsi said the story was “factually correct” and that Weiss “pulling it down after every rigorous internal check was met was not an editorial decision but a political one.”
in a 60 minutes Last week’s meetingReporter Scott Pelley criticized Weiss’s handling of the matter, noting that she skipped a previous screening of the segment – which had been in the works for months – and only began commenting before it aired.
“This is not a part-time job,” he told the meeting. “She needs to take her job more seriously.”
Meanwhile, the timing of Weiss’s decision to retract the story — a harsh criticism of the Trump administration, based on A leaked version of the clip aired briefly in Canada ——It is reported that Ellison is want to please The presidential family’s hostile takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery.
Meanwhile, while the president has called David Ellison and his father Larry — the world’s second-richest man and a close Trump ally — “great” people he “loves,” he has become publicly unhappy with the father and son in recent weeks. 60 minutes Stories he didn’t like.
Ellison said Trying to calm the president’s anger behind the scenes Claims he and Wes had no prior warning about Marjorie Taylor Greene’s clip This angers Trump. Shortly after the report aired, the president angrily said Paramount’s new ownership was “no better” than the previous one.
“I like the new owners of CBS,” Trump complained at a rally Friday night, just hours before Weiss axed the show. “Something happened to them, though. 60 minutes Under the new owners, they treated me even worse… They kept hitting me, it was crazy. “
Monday morning after 60 minutes No ‘Inside CECOT’ stories on the air By Larry Ellison Increase WBD quotation Agreed to personally support Paramount’s $40 billion in equity financing in its hostile takeover of the movie giant.