CBS News has reportedly refused to renew its contract with Sharyn Alfonsi, the “60 Minutes” correspondent whose segment on the Trump administration deporting Venezuelan men to a prison in El Salvador was published. abruptly interrupted the antenna at the end of last year.
Alfonsi confirmed the expiration of his contract with CBS News in an interview with the New York Times published Wednesday. CBS News and Alfonsi did not immediately respond to NBC News’ requests for comment on the matter.
“It sends a frightening message to the entire newsroom,” Alfonsi told the Times. “I think it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to clean up specific reporting.”
“60 Minutes” finally aired Alfonsi’s segment in January after a last-minute postponement at the end of December which, according to the correspondent, was “not an editorial decision” but “a political decision”.
The segment featured interviews with men deported from the United States to Terrorism Containment Centeror CECOT, in Tecoluca, El Salvador. Respondents described torture and physical and sexual abuse at the compound.
In a Dec. 22 editorial, the day after “Inside CECOT” was removed from the “60 Minutes” lineup, CBS News Executive Editor Bari Weiss said she withheld the story “because it wasn’t ready,” according to a source.
On December 10, CBS News Executive Editor Bari Weiss hosts a town hall with Erika Kirk.CBS via Getty Images file“While the story presented powerful testimony about torture at CECOT, it did not move the needle — the Times and other media outlets have already done similar work,” Weiss told CBS News staff, according to this source.
Weiss is a former Times opinion writer and editor who launched The Free Press website in 2021. CBS owner Paramount Skydance acquired The Free Press and hired Weiss as CBS News editor in October.
Alfonsi, who debuted on “60 Minutes” in 2015, continued to appear on the news magazine until the end of its 58th season, which ended May 17.
She is the second “60 Minutes” correspondent to leave the show since Weiss became CBS News editor, following Anderson Cooper, who signed on this month after 20 years on the show.
In a farewell message broadcast this month, Cooper said in part: “The independence of ’60 Minutes’ has been essential, and I think the trust it places in viewers is essential to the success of ’60 Minutes.’