'60 Minutes' finally airs story on Salvadoran prison that had been spiked

A "60 Minutes" report that was abruptly shelved last month — causing an uproar inside the news magazine amid renewed charges that CBS News had again buckled to pressure from the Trump administration — finally aired Sunday night, with only a few minor changes from the original.

The story, about conditions inside El Salvador's CECOT prison where 252 Venezuelan deportees had been sent by the United States last spring, was largely identical to the original piece scheduled for the Dec. 21 edition, although it included additional reporting about one of the subjects who was profiled. While CBS' editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, had spiked the story on the U.S. broadcast of "60 Minutes," the piece had aired on Canadian TV and subsequently found its way to YouTube.

In a statement attributed to the news division that first appeared in Variety on Sunday, the network said, "CBS News leadership has always been committed to airing the ’60 Minutes’ CECOT piece as soon as it was ready. Tonight, viewers get to see it, along with other important stories, all of which speak to CBS News’ independence and the power of our storytelling."

The Variety report said the new version included about "3 minutes" of additional reporting, some of that related to a tattoo on the arm of one of the detainees who was profiled. Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent on the piece, said at the outset of the story — as she had in the earlier version — that she had repeatedly sought comment from Trump administration officials, and they had declined.

"Inside CECOT" became a flashpoint inside CBS News last month after it was shelved by Weiss. Alfonsi then sent an email to colleagues charging that "I learned on Saturday [Dec. 20] that Bari Weiss spiked our story ... which was supposed to air tonight [Sunday]. We (Ori and I) asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity."

In the memo, Alfonsi — a 10-year veteran of the broadcast — wrote, "our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. 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." ("Ori" referred to the producer of the piece, Oriana Zill de Granados, a 15-year "60 Minutes" veteran, and formerly a producer for PBS' "Frontline.")

Weiss later responded in her own statement saying, "My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. 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. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready." Weiss, a former New York Times opinion writer, and later founder of The Free Press, a news site that was sold to CBS' new owner, Skydance Media, was named the news division's editor-in-chief after Paramount was taken over by Skydance.

In her memo, Alfonsi wrote that "We requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS [Department of Homeland Security], the White House, and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story."

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. If the standard for airing a story becomes 'the government must agree to be interviewed,' then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state."

In fact, while the story finally aired without a response from either the White House or State Department, Alfonsi did get a statement from the Department of Homeland Security, which read, "we are confident in our law enforcement's intelligence, and we aren't going to share intelligence reports and undermine national security every time a gang member denies he is one. That would be insane."

The report, which questioned how many of the Venezuelan CECOT detainees had criminal backgrounds, was about harsh conditions inside the prison, including torture of prisoners. One of them, Luis Muñoz Pinto, who was deported to CECOT, told "60 Minutes" he has no criminal record and had not entered the United States illegally.

President Donald Trump earlier sued "60 Minutes" over an interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, saying it had been edited to put her in a favorable light — a lawsuit widely ridiculed as baseless, but which CBS settled anyway for $16 million. The broadcast's executive producer, Bill Owens, later resigned, citing interference from company executives.