The 60 Minutes segment that was pulled last month by CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss in a controversial move is now ready to finally air.
The “Inside CECOT” segment is slated to air Sunday night, according to the program’s listings. CNN‘s Brian Stelter was first to report the news.
“Last year, the Trump administration deported hundreds of Venezuelans to El Salvador, a country most had no ties to, claiming they were terrorists. This unusual move sparked an ongoing legal battle, and 10 months later, the U.S. government still has not released the names of all those deported and placed in CECOT, one of El Salvador’s harshest prisons. Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi speaks with some of the now released deportees, who describe the brutal and torturous conditions they endured inside CECOT,” the segment’s description reads.
CBS News told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement: “CBS News leadership has always been committed to airing the 60 Minutes CECOT piece as soon as it was ready. Tonight, viewers get to see it, along with other important stories, all of which speak to CBS News’ independence and the power of our storytelling.”
That being said, the decision to broadcast the segment without prior promotion is unusual for the newsmagazine, and Sunday’s show will be up against an NFL playoff game and without an NFL lead-in, meaning that the ratings for the show will likely be lower than a typical episode.
The report, which featured Alfonsi as the correspondent and Oriana Zill de Granados as the producer speaking to Venezuelans who had been deported by the Trump administration to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, was initially spiked by Weiss in December, hours before it was scheduled to broadcast.
CBS News told THR at the time that the segment was pulled because it needed “additional reporting.” Weiss later defended her last-minute decision, which came after Trump administration officials did not provide on-camera comment for the story, in a memo sent to staff.
“I held a 60 Minutes story because it was not ready,” she wrote. “While the story presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT, it did not advance the ball — the Times and other outlets have previously done similar work. The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more. And this is 60 Minutes. We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera. Our viewers come first. Not the listing schedule or anything else. That’s my north star and I hope it’s yours, too.”
Amid criticism for the move, Weiss doubled down a few days later, saying it was among the kinds of “necessary” editorial decisions for the newsroom, even if it “can cause a firestorm.” She also called the move a decision to restore “the integrity of the news,” an act that is both “difficult” and “important.”
Despite stopping “Inside CECOT” from airing in the United States, the full original 60 Minutes episode ended up being available to watch online after the network that airs the show in Canada ran the original version and subsequently released it online. As a result, clips of the segment were quickly shared on social media platforms, such as X and YouTube.
Alfonsi has been openly critical of Weiss’ decision, saying in an email to her colleagues that she thought the move was politically motivated and not editorially driven.
“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. 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 wrote in part. “We requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”
Weiss has said that she wanted to get the story eventually on air once her concerns have been addressed.
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