The 60 Minutes segment that was pulled last month by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss in a controversial move is seemingly now ready to finally air.
The “Inside CECOT” segment is reportedly slated to air Sunday evening, CBS sources told CNN‘s Brian Stelter.
The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to CBS News for comment.
The report, which featured Sharyn Alfonsi as the correspondent and Oriana Zill de Granados as the producer speaking to Venezuelans who had been deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, was spiked by Weiss in December, hours before it was scheduled to broadcast.
CBS News initially told THR that the segment was pulled because it needed “additional reporting.” Weiss later defended her last-minute decision, which came after Trump administration officials did not provide on-camera comment for the story, in a memo sent to staff.
“I held a 60 Minutes story because it was not ready,” she wrote. “While the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball—the Times and other outlets have previously done similar work. The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more. And this is 60 Minutes. We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera. Our viewers come first. Not the listing schedule or anything else. That’s my north star and I hope it’s yours, too.”
Amid criticism for the move, Weiss doubled down a few days later, saying it was among the kinds of “necessary” editorial decisions for the newsroom, even if it “can cause a firestorm.” She also called the move a decision to restore “the integrity of the news,” an act that is both “difficult” and “important.”
Despite stopping “Inside CECOT” from airing in the United States, the full original 60 Minutes episode ended up being available to watch online after the network that airs the show in Canada ran the original version and subsequently released it online. As a result, clips of the segment were quickly shared on social media platforms, such as X and YouTube.
Alfonsi has been openly critical of Weiss’s decision, saying in an email to her colleagues that she thought the move was politically motivated and not editorially driven.
“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,” she wrote in part. “We requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, 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.”
Weiss has said that she wanted to get the story eventually on air once her concerns have been addressed.
