CBS News pulled a 60 Minutes report on El Salvador’s CECOT prison just hours before its scheduled Sunday broadcast, saying it would air at a future time.
“The broadcast line-up for tonight’s edition of 60 Minutes has been updated,” the programme posted on social media. “Our report ‘Inside CECOT’ will air in a future broadcast,” the programme posted on social media three hours before it was slated to air.
A CBS News spokesperson said in an email that the segment “needed additional reporting”. The New York Times, quoting from a copy of a note written by Sharyn Alfonsi, a correspondent who reported the segment, said CBS pulled the segment for “political” reasons.
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“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS lawyers and Standards and Practices,” Alfonsi wrote in the note, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times.
“It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one.” She told the newspaper on Sunday evening: “I refer all questions to Bari Weiss”, refering to the editor-in-chief of CBS News.
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CECOT is a mega-prison in El Salvador where the US has sent hundreds of mostly Venezuelan migrants without trial. It has been condemned by human rights groups for its harsh conditions.
