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CBS News boss Bari Weiss has put another 60 Minutes story critical of Donald Trump’s policies on hold, a new report claims.
Veteran journalist Anderson Cooper spent months working on the piece, said to be about the administration’s processing of South African refugees, the newsletter Status reports.
The as-yet unaired segment was viewed by producers in December with Weiss subsequently giving “extensive editorial feedback”, the outlet claims. The story was “all but guaranteed to provoke Trump” and had an “abnormal” level of review, Status adds.
It is not clear why the story proved contentious but Trump has often repeated a debunked conspiracy theory that a genocide of white people was taking place in South Africa and set out plans to prioritize white South Africans’ visa claims.
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Sources told the newsletter that a meeting was held to persuade Weiss into approving the story’s release, unsuccessfully. Cooper has yet to comment on the story allegedly being pulled. The Independent has contacted CBS News for comment.
Weiss has attracted controversy since she was appointed as CBS News editor-in-chief last year. Another 60 Minutes report critical of Trump was pulled in December, sparking backlash behind the scenes.
The other segment focused on the mistreatment of migrants sent by the United States to CECOT, a prison in El Salvador. The 13-minute clip was set to be broadcast in December before it was withdrawn before air.
Weiss attempted to justify the decision in an email to staff at Christmas, arguing it was necessary to “win back” the trust of Americans disillusioned by network news.
“[S]ometimes it means holding a piece about an important subject to make sure it is comprehensive and fair,” she said in a message seen by The Independent.
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However Sharyn Alfonsi, the reporter who produced the segment, wrote in a leaked email that she believes the real reason for the story being axed was “corporate censorship.”
Sources at the broadcaster later told The Independent that staff were ready to “revolt” over the scandal. One person even described it as a “holy f***ing dumpster fire.”
The 60 Minutes story, which later leaked online, included several accounts from detainees about the treatment they had endured in CECOT.
One of the interviewees was a Venezuelan college student who had sought asylum in America. He told 60 Minutes that the prison director had a chilling message for him upon arriving: “Welcome to hell. I’ll make sure you’ll never leave.”
