John,
Barely a month into her tenure as CBS News Editor-in-Chief, Bari Weiss publicly framed her mission as redefining the boundaries of what counts as acceptable debate in American politics and culture.
That framing took on alarming significance when she enacted exactly the kind of decision CBS journalists most feared: killing a fully reported, exhaustively vetted 60 Minutes investigation documenting torture at El Salvador’s CECOT prison -- one of the gravest human rights abuses linked directly to the Trump administration -- just hours before it was scheduled to air.
The segment had already cleared the full gauntlet that defines 60 Minutes’ reputation: multiple screenings, legal review, and standards approval at one of the most venerable broadcasts in American journalism.
Yet Weiss overruled that process, arguing that the story did not sufficiently “advance the ball” because other outlets had previously reported on similar abuses, and because the public was already aware that Venezuelan migrants had been subjected to brutal treatment. The implication was clear: state-sanctioned torture carried out with U.S. cooperation was no longer urgent news.
Tell CBS President and CEO George Cheeks: Don’t let newly installed CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss whitewash the abuses of the Trump administration and limit the terms of debate. Restore real journalism with real voices.
Weiss’s rationale did not merely minimize atrocities; it treated any ongoing attention to these atrocities as itself a reason for silence. That decision was widely read inside CBS as what it plainly seems to be -- an obsequious gesture toward Trump at a moment when Paramount’s new owner, Trump ally David Ellison – who hired Weiss -- is seeking regulatory favor.
The story’s subject matter could not have been more serious: migrants sent by the United States to a foreign prison notorious for torture, abuse, and lawlessness. Suppressing such reporting is not a judgment call about tone or timing; it’s a violation of core journalistic ethics, especially when the work has already been approved under rigorous institutional safeguards.
Sharyn Alfonsi, the veteran 60 Minutes correspondent who reported the piece, rejected Weiss’s argument that the segment lacked administration voices. Her team had sought comment from the White House, DHS, and the State Department, all of which declined. Treating their refusal as grounds to kill the story, Alfonsi warned, hands the government veto power over any coverage it doesn’t like.
The stakes extend far beyond a single broadcast. If Weiss is the sole decision maker who determines which reporting falls within the bounds of acceptability for broadcast by CBS, even when that means overruling the network’s most experienced journalists, the public loses access to critical truths.
As editor in chief, Weiss now wields enormous influence over what millions of Americans see and understand about power, abuse, and accountability. Early signs -- including plans for ideologically tilted programming -- suggest a narrowing of debate rather than its expansion.
America does not need a right-leaning gate around public discourse. We need journalism that confronts torture, corruption, and authoritarian abuse. CBS’s new leadership must be held to that standard. When the most serious human rights crimes of a presidential administration are deemed un-newsworthy, viewers have every reason to change the channel.
Tell CBS leadership that viewers demand fearless reporting that exposes lies and abuse, not anodyne reporting that keeps the Trump administration happy.
Thank you for insisting that journalism exists to serve the public, not political power.
– DFA AF Team
