Bari Weiss Defends ’60 Minutes’ Decision in Staff Memo: ‘This May Seem Radical’ but ‘No Amount of Outrage’ Will ‘Derail Us’

What did CBS News management get staffers for Christmas? A memo doubling down on a controversial decision that has roiled the Paramount Skydance news unit and drawn torrents of criticism.

In a note to staff sent hours before the start of Christmas Eve, CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss, President Tom Cibrowski and new senior editors Charles Forelle and Adam Rubenstein insisted a move to delay a “60 Minutes” report by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi was enacted “to make sure it is comprehensive and fair.” The signatures on the memo mark what is believed to be the first tacit appearance of a new CBS News editorial “masthead” that Weiss expects to get more entrenched in the newsgathering process at the company, according to people familiar with the matter.

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“Right now, the majority of Americans say they do not trust the press. It isn’t because they’re crazy,” the memo read. “To win back their trust, we have to work hard. Sometimes that means doing more legwork. Sometimes it means telling unexpected stories. Sometimes it means training our attention on topics that have been overlooked or misconstrued. And sometimes it means holding a piece about an important subject to make sure it is comprehensive and fair.”

 CBS News revealed over the weekend that a “60 Minutes” segment reported by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi and centered on the on-screen accounts of Venezuelan men deported by the U.S. to prison in El Salvador had been shelved just hours before Sunday’s broadcast. As disclosed by an email sent to colleagues by Alfonsi, the decision was made by Weiss, who insisted that Trump officials appear in the report to comment on camera, even though Alfonsi’s team had made good faith efforts to secure response ahead of filing the report for legal review. “The public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship,” Alfonsi said in her memo.

Weiss has, since her arrival in October, insisted without presenting evidence that mainstream media has lost Americans’ trust.  One poll, by Gallup, found just 28% of Americans have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of trust in newspapers, television and radio to report news accurately and fairly. The figure is down from 31% in 2025 and 40% five years ago.
And yet, a September study from Pew Research Center showed that CBS News enjoyed the backing of 51% of U.S. adults who have at least some trust in the information they get from national news organizations. CBS was ranked on par with CNN and PBS, and just a few percentage points behind ABC News and NBC News.

The recent decision making “may seem radical,” the new memo said. “Such editorial decisions can cause a firestorm, particularly on a slow news week. And the standards for fairness we are holding ourselves to, particularly on contentious subjects, will surely feel controversial to those used to doing things one way. But to fulfill our mission, it’s necessary.”

The “60 Minutes” imbroglio grips CBS News and its parent at an extremely inopportune moment. The news unit is just days away from trying to launch Tony Dokoupil as the new anchor of “CBS Evening News,” and looks to be doing so without the weeks of pre-launch promotion such a move would normally warrant. Instead, Dokoupil will go on a barnstorming tour of the U.S. and visit many cities and towns during his first days on the air. What’s more, Paramount is engaged in a heated battle with Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, and a continuing series of gaffes under Weiss’ management casts a cloud over Paramount CEO David Ellison’s ability to manage the coropration.

Many staffers are aghast over Weiss decision, noting that it came at the end of a long vetting process and after CBS News had already promoted the “60 Minutes” segment to the public. Indeed, many people have been able to watch the report on their own because a Canadian media outlet which airs “60 Minutes” made Alfonsi’s report available via digital means. Should a new version of the story surface on the newsmagazine, viewers will be able to see how it was changed under Weiss’ supervision. According to people familiar with the report, Alfonsi had already made efforts to seek comment from Trump officials, and had included a video snippet from White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that offered the administration’s take on the topic.

Weiss,  a digital provocateur whose opinion site, The Free Press, was acquired by Paramount Skydance earlier this year, has cascaded through a series of unforced errors since her arrival at CBS News. The gaffes scrutiny high on a news operation that backs top series such as “60 Minutes” and “Sunday Morning,” but operates weekday evening and morning news programs that have long run behind rivals at NBC and ABC.

Since her arrival, Weiss has brought pushback from the union representing CBS News staffers after asking them to lay out their job duties; nabbed conservative newsmakers and Trump administration officials for various segments for broadcast and online programming; tried to hire big-name anchors by enticing them to leave their current contracts at rival operations; and launched a new series of town halls and debates by moderating a session with conservative activist Erika Kirk that lacked support from mainstream advertisers. Bank of America has signed on as a sponsor for future editions of the series, now dubbed “Things That Matter.”

The new memo continued to promote Weiss’ stance that news consumers have less trust in mainstream media outlets, a theorem that the executive has put forth several times in public without evidence.  And yet, a September study from Pew Research Center showed that CBS News enjoyed the backing of 51% of U.S. adults who have at least some trust in the information they get from national news organizations. CBS was ranked on par with CNN and PBS, and just a few percentage points behind ABC News and NBC News.