CBS News pulled a “60 Minutes” report about the Trump administration sending detainees to a maximum security “mega prison” in El Salvador just hours before its scheduled broadcast.
The broadcaster said Sunday that the episode would be aired at a future date, a move that drew questions about why it was postponed at such short notice.
“The broadcast lineup for tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes has been updated,” the show posted on social media just three hours before airtime. “Our report ‘Inside CECOT’ will air in a future broadcast.”
NBC News has contacted CBS for comment.
In a statement to The New York Times, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss said, “My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be.”
“Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason—that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices—happens every day in every newsroom,” she added. “I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready.”
A preview of the story had been released and shown on air and was available online.
According to those clips, it profiled detainees who were deported from the United States to El Salvador’s notorious Center for the Confinement of Terrorism, or CECOT.
One clip showed correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi speaking about how these prisoners were “shackled, paraded in front of cameras,” and saying that they had endured “four months of hell” at the facility.
The Trump administration sent about 250 Venezuelan men to CECOT in March and has accused them of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang. Many of the men and some of their families and attorneys have denied the claim.
On Monday, the “60 Minutes” webpage promoting the report had been removed. Instead, it read: “The page cannot be found. The page may have been removed, had its name changed, or is just temporarily unavailable.”
Alfonsi said the segment was pulled for “political” reasons, according to a private note sent to CBS colleagues that was reported by the Times.
“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” the Times reported Alfonsi wrote in the note, which it had obtained a copy of, the newspaper said.
“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 said in the note, the Times reported.
Asked for further comment by the newspaper Sunday evening, Alfonsi said: “I refer all questions to Bari Weiss.”
It’s the latest in a string of controversies for CBS and its parent company, the newly formed Paramount Skydance.
Last year, President Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against Paramount, accusing “60 Minutes” of deceptively editing an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. CBS denied the claim. Paramount settled Trump’s lawsuit for $16 million.
Skydance chief David Ellison has sought to reshape the news business, appointing Weiss — a television newcomer and prominent critic of liberal media — as editor in chief after acquiring her outlet, The Free Press.
In seeking federal approval of the merger with Paramount, Skydance vowed to embrace “diverse viewpoints” and represent “the varied ideological perspectives of American viewers.”
Sunday’s decision drew criticism from some Democrats.
“What is happening to CBS is a terrible embarrassment and if executives think they can build shareholder value by avoiding journalism that might offend the Mad King they are about to learn a tough lesson,” Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, said. The decision “does merit an explanation right away. It’s a pretty big deal to pull a story at the request of the White House,” he wrote on X.
NBC News has reached out to the White House for comment.
