Bari Weiss, recently appointed leader of CBS News, addressed her staff in a Christmas memo explaining the rationale behind her choice to withhold a '60 Minutes' segment that focused on the Trump administration's interactions with El Salvador's infamous CECOT prison. The decision to delay this investigative piece just before its scheduled airing sparked considerable debate within the network and beyond.
In the memo, signed not only by Weiss but also other senior leaders at CBS News, the focus was on the urgent need for the media to regain the erosion of public trust. Weiss underscored that the majority of Americans currently express a lack of confidence in the press, a sentiment she argued should be taken seriously rather than dismissed as irrational.
She stated, "It isn't because they're crazy." Instead, Weiss suggested that achieving credibility might require withholding coverage temporarily to ensure that stories present a comprehensive and balanced perspective. This approach, she wrote, sometimes necessitates "holding a piece about an important subject to make sure it is comprehensive and fair."
The held segment explored the Trump administration's use of El Salvador’s CECOT prison, a facility notorious for its harsh conditions and human rights concerns. Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent who reported the piece, reportedly viewed the decision to pull the segment as politically motivated, a perspective she shared in a note to colleagues, according to multiple media reports.
Weiss refuted implications that CBS News leadership was attempting to please any political faction or cultivate social media followers. She wrote that she and her team are not aiming "to score points with one side of the political spectrum or to win followers on social media." Instead, the focus remains on journalistic integrity.
The scrutiny of Weiss’s leadership tenure has intensified since her arrival as CBS News head in October, an appointment orchestrated by Paramount CEO David Ellison. Paramount, which operates CBS News, also recently acquired The Free Press, a news outlet aligned with conservative perspectives that Weiss founded following her departure from The New York Times opinion section. This acquisition was valued at roughly $150 million.
This development takes place amid Paramount’s ongoing competition with Netflix in the bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. Notably, President Donald Trump indicated intentions to engage personally in the regulatory review process for this major media consolidation.
Emphasizing CBS News’ commitment to impartiality, Weiss assured staff that the network will maintain high standards of fairness and operate independently from external influence. The memo serves both as a clarification of editorial decisions and an affirmation of journalistic principles under her leadership.
The full text of the memo was shared with the staff but not publicly disclosed in its entirety. The communication marks a significant moment in Weiss’s tenure as she navigates complex internal and external expectations while steering CBS News through a challenging media landscape.