A controversial segment from CBS's 60 Minutes investigating the Trump administration's deportation of Venezuelan men to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador was briefly made available to Canadian audiences this week, after the network's editor-in-chief pulled it from U.S. broadcast schedules.
Segment Pulled for Lacking "Balanced" Voices
The roughly 13-minute feature, which focused on the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) prison, was scheduled to air in the United States but was postponed at the last minute. CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss stated the decision was made because the report needed more context and critical voices, specifically from officials within the Trump administration.
"My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be," Weiss said in a statement. "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."
In a leaked internal memo, Weiss elaborated that airing the piece without perspectives from Trump's team would be "doing our viewers a disservice."
Reporter Alleges Political Decision
The segment's reporter, Sharyn Alfonsi, strongly contested the shelving. In a letter to colleagues, she defended the report, stating it had been screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and the network's Standards and Practices department.
Alfonsi argued that the reporting team had made extensive efforts to get Republican officials on the record, suggesting their silence was "a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story." She concluded that Weiss's move was "not an editorial decision, it is a political one."
The report details the conditions faced by 252 Venezuelan men who were deported to CECOT in April 2025 and detained for four months. A former prisoner, Louise Munoz Pinto, described the experience to Alfonsi, saying, "When you get there, you already know you're in hell."
Complex History Between Trump and CBS
The incident occurs against a backdrop of tension between the former president and the news program. Trump recently settled a $16 million lawsuit against CBS for $16 million, alleging deceptive editing in a segment during the last election cycle.
Furthermore, the corporate landscape of CBS's parent company, Paramount, has shifted. It was recently acquired by Skydance Media, owned by the family of Larry and David Ellison, who are avowed Trump supporters. The Ellisons also acquired Weiss's media startup, The Free Press, before her appointment to lead CBS News.
While U.S. viewers did not see the report, Canadian audiences with access to Global TV's app and website on Monday were able to view it before it was removed. The segment's brief availability in Canada has sparked discussions about editorial independence, political influence in newsrooms, and the differing media landscapes between the two nations.
