{"id":888066,"date":"2026-01-26T23:20:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T05:20:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/26\/bari-weiss-spiked-a-major-migrant-story-and-told-on-herself\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T23:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T05:20:17","slug":"bari-weiss-spiked-a-major-migrant-story-and-told-on-herself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/26\/bari-weiss-spiked-a-major-migrant-story-and-told-on-herself\/","title":{"rendered":"Bari Weiss spiked a major migrant story \u2014 and told on herself"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"post-880902\" data-post-id=\"880902\">\n<section>\n<p>commentary<\/p>\n<h2>Weiss&#8217; catch-and-kill puts her editorial incompetence at CBS News on public view<\/h2>\n<div>\n<p><h3>\n                    <span>Published<\/span><br \/>\n                    <time datetime=\"2025-12-22T12:10:02-05:00\"><br \/>\n                        December 22, 2025 12:10PM (EST)                    <\/time><br \/>\n                <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<div>\n<p><img width=\"1692\" height=\"1142\" src=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Bari-Weiss-2187869221.jpg\" alt=\"Bari Weiss speaks onstage in New York on Nov. 19, 2024. (Noam Galai\/Getty Images for The Free Press)\"  decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" >    <\/p>\n<p>\n            Bari Weiss speaks onstage in New York on Nov. 19, 2024. (Noam Galai\/Getty Images for The Free Press)        <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<section>\n<p>\n        This column has been updated to include new details reported by the Washington Post.    <\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section>\n<p><span>In a single weekend, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/topic\/cbs_news\"><span>CBS News<\/span><\/a><span>\u2019 new editorial director <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/topic\/bari-weiss\"><span>Bari Weiss<\/span><\/a><span> has managed to damage the most successful and profitable news broadcast in American history. Hours before it was scheduled to air, CBS News <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2025\/12\/22\/bari-weiss-spiked-our-story-cbs-yanks-60-minutes-segment-on-trump-deportees-at-the-last-minute\/\"><span>abruptly pulled<\/span><\/a><span> a \u201c60 Minutes\u201d segment on the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), El Salvador\u2019s notorious maximum-security prison, where hundreds of Venezuelan migrants deported by the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/topic\/donald_trump\"><span>Trump administration<\/span><\/a><span> have been held. The decision was announced in a terse statement, with no substantive explanation to viewers. But what is now clear is that the last-minute act of censorship carried out in the name of so-called context suggests Weiss is CBS\u2019s answer to former National Enquirer publisher <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/topic\/david-pecker\"><span>David Pecker<\/span><\/a><span>, practicing a \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2024\/04\/22\/whos-afraid-of-david-pecker-first-criminal-trial-could-hinge-on-testimony-of-former-friend\/\"><span>catch and kill<\/span><\/a><span>\u201d philosophy to protect a petulant tyrant.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent who reported the segment, told colleagues in an email that Weiss had \u201cspiked our story.\u201d She explained that the report was screened five times, cleared by CBS attorneys and vetted by the network\u2019s Standards and Practices department. Weiss reportedly spiked the rigorous investigation into the Trump administration\u2019s human rights abuses in the name of \u201cbalance\u201d \u2014 even though it had already been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WorldWideWob\/status\/2002867287607611554?s=20\"><span>promoted for days<\/span><\/a><span> on social media.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The report detailed the harrowing reality faced by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/11\/12\/americas\/el-salvador-prison-cecot-venezuela-hrw-cristosal-latam-intl\"><span>dozens of Venezuelan migrants<\/span><\/a><span> deported by the Trump administration to a \u201cmegaprison\u201d in El Salvador where, according to Human Rights Watch and the University of California, Berkeley\u2019s Investigations Lab, they <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hrcberkeley\/status\/2002114143147671827\"><span>endured<\/span><\/a><span> systematic torture and sexual assault. Interviews had been conducted with migrants who have since been released and described brutal conditions. (A federal judge <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/trump-due-process-venezuelan-men-sent-to-el-salvador-cecot\/\"><span>ruled<\/span><\/a><span> that migrants sent there must be given an opportunity to challenge their removal.)<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In a statement issued after the news broke, Weiss suggested the story was \u201cmissing critical voices,\u201d insisting on an interview with a White House official, even though the administration already declined. Weiss reportedly gave \u201c60 Minutes\u201d producers White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller\u2019s phone number. According to a r<\/span><span>ecording <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/business\/media\/cbs-news-editor-bari-weiss-defends-decision-to-pull-60-minutes-segment-31ace614?mod=hp_lead_pos4\">obtained<\/a> by the Wall Street Journal, Weiss, in a Monday morning editorial call, told CBS News staffers that the story wasn\u2019t ready for airing and appeared to address the swirling controversy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-type=\"paragraph\" data=\"[object Object]\">\u201cThe only newsroom that I\u2019m interested in running is one where we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest editorial matters and do so with respect and crucially where we assume the best intent of our colleagues, she said. \u201cAnd anything else is absolutely unacceptable to me and should be unacceptable to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-type=\"paragraph\" data=\"[object Object]\">The Washington Post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/business\/2025\/12\/21\/cbs-news-bari-weiss-intervention\/\">reported<\/a> Monday afternoon that \u201c60 Minutes\u201d executive producer Tanya Simon backed the spiked segment in a private meeting with colleagues, explaining that she could not convince Weiss to move forward. \u201c<span>We pushed back, we defended our story, but she wanted changes, and I ultimately had to comply.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>If the new standard for airing investigative journalism is that the government under scrutiny must agree to be interviewed, Alfonsi warned, then that amounts to CBS <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2025\/07\/04\/too-corporate-to-fight-for-a-free-press\/\"><span>surrendering<\/span><\/a><span> editorial control and, in her words, \u201c[going] from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Miller\u2019s wife Katie, a podcaster, sneered on social media that journalists like Alfonsi, who \u201cwant to become the story,\u201d lose their integrity when they push back. This lack of self-awareness is astonishing because Katie Miller\u2019s description perfectly fits Weiss, who has launched a new CBS town hall series and stepped into the role of on-air talent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>This type of anticipatory obedience to the state by media executives is an important marker in the nation\u2019s continuing slide into fascism. And it\u2019s happening at dizzying speed.<\/p>\n<p><span>In killing the segment, the new editorial director also reportedly \u2014\u00a0and revealingly \u2014 took issue with the term \u201cmigrants\u201d to describe the imprisoned men. Weiss\u2019 brand of enlightened centrism has always been a thin veneer for right-wing reactionary politics. Her objection, it appears, isn\u2019t to the torture, but to the accurate, neutral language that international human rights organizations and U.S. courts routinely use to describe the victims of the Trump administration, which prefers dehumanizing pejoratives like \u201cillegal alien.\u201d This type of anticipatory obedience to the state by media executives is an important marker in the nation\u2019s continuing slide into fascism. And it\u2019s happening at dizzying speed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>A week before Weiss\u2019 interference, while accepting University of Southern California Annenberg\u2019s Walter Cronkite Award at the National Press Club, longtime \u201c60 Minutes\u201d anchor Scott Pelley <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WBo21sAd94g\"><span>reassured<\/span><\/a><span> the audience that despite <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/paramount-skydance-media-cbs-trump-merger-a030c4f2c1903ed0e7f927782a64fcc0\"><span>the sale<\/span><\/a><span> of CBS\u2019s parent company Paramount and the arrival of new ownership, the program had experienced \u201cno corporate interference of any kind.\u201d Barely ten days later, Pelley\u2019s words now ring with a tragic, hollow naivety.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>None of this should come as a surprise: it\u2019s who Bari Weiss is and has always been. Despite her reputation in some quarters\u00a0 as a free-speech absolutist \u2014 a stroke of branding genius on her part \u2014 she is in fact an anti-speech activist. From the days of her early career, when she attempted to get professors disciplined or fired for criticizing Israel, to her more recent work running interference for Elon Musk and her stewardship of The Free Press \u2014 a publication that wraps right-wing ideology in the language of heterodoxy \u2014 Weiss consistently attacks speech that threatens entrenched power.\u00a0 The Free Press caters to a conservative audience while pretending otherwise with a \u201cfair-minded\u201d schtick to trick gullible centrists into ignoring the fact that it is carrying water for authoritarianism. When <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/topic\/paramount-skydance\"><span>Paramount Skydance<\/span><\/a><span> paid $150 million to acquire Weiss\u2019 operation, CEO <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/topic\/david-ellison\"><span>David Ellison<\/span><\/a><span> said he wanted journalism that \u201creflects reality\u201d and \u201cdoesn\u2019t seek to demonize, but seeks to understand.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><strong><em>Want more sharp takes on politics? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/newsletter?utm_source=onsite&#038;utm_medium=organic&#038;utm_campaign=standing-room-only-edit-signup\">Sign up for our free newsletter<\/a>, Standing Room Only,<\/em> <em>written by Amanda Marcotte, now also a weekly show <a href=\"%E2%80%9Dhttps:\/\/www.salon.com\/2025\/06\/13\/standing-room-only-amanda-marcotte-salon-youtube-podcast\/%E2%80%9D\">on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p><span>Weiss\u2019 decision at \u201c60 Minutes\u201d comes as Ellison pursues a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery \u2014 the parent of CNN. In <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/12\/10\/media\/trump-cnn-sold-paramount-warner-bros-netflix\"><span>demanding \u201cnew owners\u201d for CNN<\/span><\/a><span>, President Donald Trump has already signaled that he intends to meddle in the government approval process of this merger. Paramount is scared. The corporation is trying to please Trump to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WBo21sAd94g\"><span>ensure its corporate survival<\/span><\/a><span> after Trump\u2019s son-in-law <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2025\/12\/13\/jared-kushner-is-at-the-center-of-trumps-corruption\/\"><span>Jared Kushner<\/span><\/a><span> suddenly <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/jared-kushner-paramount-warner-bros-netflix-56886b231c132f6eb7d8990f0ede3e32\"><span>pulled out of<\/span><\/a><span> financing the deal.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>We saw this interference play out months ago when CBS\u2019s previous leadership agreed to settle Trump\u2019s frivolous lawsuit over former Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019 October 2024 interview just before the Skydance acquisition was finalized. It was a $16 million bribe paid to a bully. But as the recent week has shown, kowtowing to Trump gets you nothing. He is still on Truth Social attacking CBS and Ellison, calling them \u201cno better than the old ownership\u201d because they dared to air a profile of outgoing Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/topic\/marjorie-taylor-greene\">Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/a>, R-Ga.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The lesson is clear, yet Weiss and Ellison refuse to learn it: Bending the knee does not buy protection; it only invites more demands and serves to undercut conservatives\u2019 outrage about crony capitalism and government overreach.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>When Weiss isn\u2019t suppressing reporting on torture, she is busy transforming CBS into a platform for the fringes of the right. Along with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2025\/12\/14\/cbs-news-faces-questions-after-faith-forward-town-hall-with-erika-kirk\/\"><span>hosting a town hall<\/span><\/a><span> featuring <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/topic\/erika-kirk\">Erika Kirk<\/a>, Weiss has tapped noted associates of the deceased convicted sex offender <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/topic\/jeffrey-epstein\">Jeffrey Epstein<\/a>, including the attorney and law professor Alan Dershowitz and psychologist Steven Pinker, for collaborations. This also comes as Brendan Carr, chair of the Federal Communications Commission, was spotted this weekend dining with Trump at Mar-a-Lago after <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2025\/12\/18\/donald-trumps-biggest-attack-dog-is-joe-bidens-legacy\/\"><span>refusing to defend his agency\u2019s independence <\/span><\/a><span>in congressional testimony.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>These are the moves of a propaganda regime \u2014 not because every media outlet is state-run, but because the largest platforms internalize the preferences of those in power and act accordingly. The president does not need a formal kill switch for the press if executives install one themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The irony is that Weiss\u2019 attempt to bury the story has triggered a massive <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/uk-18458567\"><span>Streisand Effect<\/span><\/a><span>. By trying to hide the horrors of CECOT to stay in Trump\u2019s good graces, the editorial director has ensured that her incompetence and complicity is now out in the open for all who are willing to take an objective look to see. Internal dissent spilled into public view. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/RoKhanna\/status\/2003116590309757386\"><span>Lawmakers<\/span><\/a><span> have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/brianschatz\/status\/2002954715223777623?s=43&#038;t=HYc_giMzWSxAH8utFekBRA\"><span>demanded explanations<\/span><\/a><span>. The conservative fantasy that they will sweep into liberal institutions and run them smoothly has been exposed as just that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Still, if CBS News is going to operate as an arm of the Trump administration, it should be treated as such. Starve the beast until it remembers why independence matters. Democratic lawmakers should refuse interviews with the network. There should be a total boycott of what is now Bari Weiss\u2019 network.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<hr>\n<\/section>\n<div data-writer-id=\"429485\">\n<p><h3>\n                            <span>By<\/span><br \/>\n                            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/writer\/sophia_tesfaye\"><br \/>\n                                Sophia Tesfaye                            <\/a><br \/>\n                        <\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p>                    <template><\/p>\n<h3>\n                            <span>By<\/span><br \/>\n                            <a href><br \/>\n                            <\/a><br \/>\n                        <\/h3>\n<p><span>MORE FROM<\/span><br \/>\n                            <a href><br \/>\n                            <\/a>\n                        <\/p>\n<p>                    <\/template>\n                            <\/div>\n<hr>\n<section>\n<h2>\n            Related Topics            <span><br \/>\n                &#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;&#8212;            <\/span><br \/>\n        <\/h2>\n<\/section>\n<section data-post-id=\"880902\" data-terms=\"60-minutes,bari-weiss,catch-and-kill,cbs-news,cecot,commentary,david-ellison,david-pecker,donald-trump,el-salvador,immigration,paramount-skydance,the-free-press\">\n<h2>\n        <span><br \/>\n            Related Articles        <\/span><br \/>\n    <\/h2>\n<div>\n        <template><br \/>\n            <a href><\/p>\n<div>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/app\/themes\/salon\/assets\/img\/salon-placeholder.webp\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" alt=\"Salon placeholder\">\n                    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>                <span><\/span><br \/>\n            <\/a><br \/>\n        <\/template>\n    <\/div>\n<\/section>\n<hr><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.salon.com\/2025\/12\/22\/bari-weiss-spiked-a-major-migrant-story-and-told-on-herself\/\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>commentary Weiss&#8217; catch-and-kill puts her editorial incompetence at CBS News on public view Published December 22, 2025 12:10PM (EST) Bari Weiss speaks onstage in New York on Nov. 19, 2024. (Noam Galai\/Getty Images for The Free Press) This column has been updated to include new details reported by the Washington Post. In a single weekend<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":888067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36053,4722],"tags":[120805,116864],"class_list":{"0":"post-888066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spiked","8":"category-weiss","9":"tag-spiked","10":"tag-weiss"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}