Former “60 Minutes” correspondent Katie Couric called CBS’s decision not to run a story about deported U.S. migrants being held in El Salvador a “disgrace,” but said she’s not surprised.
“60 Minutes” reporter Sharyn Alfonsi fired off an email complaining to colleagues that her story about the conditions deported migrants face in the CEGOT prison was spiked hours before it was scheduled to air Sunday — despite having been cleared by CBS lawyers and the network’s standards division.
She accused newly hired CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of shutting down her report because the Trump administration declined to address claims made in the segment. Weiss said the story will run “when it’s ready.”
Couric, a “60 Minutes” anchor from 2006 to 2011, blasted Weiss’s decision in an Instagram statement posted Monday.
“This is the kind of censorship journalists at CBS feared,” the 68-year-old newsroom veteran wrote. “It’s appalling but not surprising. And now it’s happening — what a disgrace.”
Couric publishes a daily newsletter called “Wake Up Call” and hosts the “Next Question with Katie Couric” podcast. Her Instagram post quotes Alfonsi’s internal memo, which reportedly argued that people put their lives at risk to tell “60 Minutes” their stories, and allowing the government to stonewall the broadcast by refusing to participate is problematic.
“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,” Alfonsi said in the email obtained by the New York Times. “We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state.”
Weiss — a controversial figure hired by CBS in October after Skydance Media purchased the network — said “holding stories” that lack context or “critical voices” is a common practice and denied she’d killed the piece.
“I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready,” the 41-year-old newsroom boss added.
With News Wire Services
