Outcry after CBS pulls programme on prison that’s key to Trump deportations

Summary

• CBS News faces accusations of political meddling after shelving a 60 Minutes report on alleged abuses at El Salvador's CECOT prison where the Trump administration sent deported migrants.
• Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi claims the decision to pull the CECOT report was political, not editorial, especially after it had cleared internal checks and corporate lawyers.
• The shelving occurs amidst a Paramount Skydance bidding war involving Trump, who has criticised CBS, raising concerns about editorial independence after a Trump-linked purchase.

WASHINGTON - The leadership of CBS News was facing accusations of political meddling on Dec 22 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 on Dec 21 about alleged abuses at the CECOT centre in El Salvador
on its flagship 60 Minutes programme, 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.

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,” Ms 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 US.

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

CBS owners close to Trump

CBS’ 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.

Mr 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 Mr Trump, earlier this year. Mr Larry Ellison is one of the world’s richest people and a major Trump donor.

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

Paramount chief David Ellison – son of Mr Larry Ellison – brought in Ms 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 Mr Trump.

In her note to colleagues, Ms 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.”

Ms 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.” AFP