CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss has started the day with her house on fire.
Weiss gave a weak explanation this morning to CBS News staff for why she pulled Sharyn Alfonsi’s piece on the El Salvador prison last night — at the last minute.
The piece had been vetted, approved, screened in house five times, and promoted widely. At the moment CBS announced the axing, there were dozens of clips all over the internet promoting the segment. They hadn’t been published in just a few minutes, but days. They were pulled down in minutes, I can tell you that. I watched them in real time disappear.
CBS already had this year’s indignity of firing Stephen Colbert. Then the turmoil of the Ellisons fronting for Donald Trump and buying the network as part of their Paramount deal. Now this — more than incident — which has set social media ablaze with criticism. Weiss’s intention after marching orders is to remake the network as a Fox News Lite.
The Ellisons must not get their hands next on CNN by buying Warner Discovery. That much is now crystal clear.
Here is Weiss’s sad excuse for a rationale. Her main objection? That Alfonsi didn’t get someone like Stephen Miller, Trump’s Goebbels, on camera. Alfonsi says she tried to get comment, but no one answered. But she didn’t need anyone. Her reporting has always been 100% accurate. She has the story.
“The story presented very powerful testimony of abuse at CECOT, but that testimony has already been reported on by places like the [New York] Times.”
Weiss continued, “The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment in this prison. So to run a story on this subject, two months later, we simply need to do more. And this is ’60 Minutes.’ We need to be able to make every effort to get the principles on the record and on camera.”
“The only newsroom I’m interested in running is one in which we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest editorial matters with respect, and, crucially, where we assume the best intent of our colleagues. Anything else is absolutely unacceptable.
“To me, our viewers come first, not a listing schedule or anything else, and that is my North Star, and I hope it’s the north star of every person in this newsroom.”
