Overview
- Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi told colleagues the piece had cleared CBS legal and standards and called the last‑minute removal a political decision and “corporate censorship.”
- Editor in chief Bari Weiss said the decision was editorial, arguing the story lacked context and key voices and stating she intends to air it when it is ready.
- People familiar with internal discussions say Weiss pressed for new material, including an interview with senior Trump officials such as Stephen Miller, and questioned labeling the men as “migrants.”
- The withheld segment features Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador’s CECOT prison, where they describe brutal and torturous conditions.
- The dispute unfolds against recent corporate shifts involving David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance, the purchase of Weiss’s The Free Press, a prior $16 million settlement with President Trump, and fresh staff unrest including threats to resign.