Outcry after US broadcaster pulls programme on alleged abuses at Trump deportation prison

THE LEADERSHIP OF US broadcaster CBS News is facing accusations of political meddling over a last-minute decision to not air a report on the notorious Salvadoran prison where US President Donald Trump has sent deported migrants.

CBS had been due to air the investigation late last night about alleged abuses at the CECOT centre in El Salvador on its flagship “60 Minutes” program, seen by many as one of the most prestigious and hard-hitting institutions in US journalism.

But the broadcaster quietly announced hours before showtime that the segment would “air in a future broadcast,” replacing it with a piece on the sherpas working on Mount Everest.

It’s the latest clash involving elements of the US media industry and how it covers Trump’s second term, coming a short few months after the ABC broadcaster suspended Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night chat show over comments about the killing of far-right activist Charlie Kirk, amid criticism from Trump. Kimmel was quickly reinstated, however, following backlash across the political spectrum.

CBS, which was purchased by the Trump-linked Ellison family earlier this year, said that the prison report needed “additional reporting.”

Multiple US media outlets quoted the “60 Minutes” correspondent who oversaw the report as saying it had been pulled for political reasons.

“Pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one,” Sharyn Alfonsi said in a note to CBS staff first leaked by The Wall Street Journal.

CECOT is a huge, maximum security facility touted by El Salvador’s right-wing President Nayib Bukele as the centrepiece of his attempt to rid the Central American country of narco-gangs.

Human rights activists say inmates there are treated brutally.

The facility has been at the centre of major US legal case since March, when the Trump administration sent hundreds of Venezuelan and other migrants there despite a judge’s order that they be returned to the United States.

Several deportees who have since been released have described repeated abuse at the facility.

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CBS owners close to Trump

CBS’s decision to shelve a high-profile story on the Trump administration comes as the broadcaster’s parent company, Paramount Skydance, is in a multi-billion-dollar bidding war with Netflix to buy Warner Bros Discovery.

Trump has made clear he is taking a keen interest in the merger, which will likely need regulatory approval.

Paramount was purchased by the Ellison family, which is close to Trump, earlier this year. Larry Ellison is one of the world’s richest people, via his tech company Oracle, and a major Trump donor.

The Republican president has frequently criticized “60 Minutes” and sued CBS in 2024 over his claim that the news program had edited an interview with Democrat Kamala Harris in order to help her.

Paramount chief David Ellison – son of Larry Ellison – brought in Bari Weiss as a new editor in chief this October, leading to expectations that she would steer the renowned broadcaster to be more friendly to Trump.

In her note to colleagues, Alfonsi said the CECOT segment had been cleared by corporate lawyers before being “spiked.”

“If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a ‘kill switch’ for any reporting they find inconvenient.”

Weiss told The New York Times in a statement that she would be “airing this important piece when it’s ready.”

“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.”

The executive producer of “60 Minutes,” Tanya Simon, told fellow employees that she had resisted Weiss’s order, but “ultimately had to comply.”

“We pushed back, we defended our story, but she wanted changes,” Simon was quoted as saying by The Washington Post in a transcript of the producer’s private meeting with colleagues.

– © AFP2025