Nixty Minutes

Bari Weiss was installed at CBS to play nice with Trump-- and she delivered

Even in an era rife with capitulation, Bari Weiss’ decision to kill this weekend’s episode of 60 Minutes was especially egregious. The storied news program was supposed to air a report entitled “Inside CECOT,” exposing the cruel realities inside the prison where the Trump administration sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia and intended to send others, but that episode never aired. Instead, 60 Minutes posted the following:

The Wall Street Journal then reported that Sharyn Alfonsi, a correspondent for 60 Minutes, sent an internal email to colleagues asserting that CBS News’ editor-in-chief Bari Weiss “spiked our story” about the prison in El Salvador. The email read, in part:

I learned on Saturday that Bari Weiss spiked our story, INSIDE CECOT, which was supposed to air tonight. We (Ori and I) asked for a call to discuss her decision. She did not afford us that courtesy/opportunity. 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.

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. If the administration’s refusal to participate becomes a valid reason to spike a story, we have effectively handed them a “kill switch” for any reporting they find inconvenient. If the standard for airing a story becomes “the government must agree to be interviewed,” then the government effectively gains control over the 60 Minutes broadcast. We go from an investigative powerhouse to a stenographer for the state.

I can only imagine Weiss thinking, you say stenographer for the state like it’s a bad thing. While infuriating, the logic behind this situation is actually quite clear. Months ago, CBS effectively bribed Trump $16 million to grease a pending merger between CBS’s parent company, Paramount, and Skydance. The bribe worked, and the merger was approved. At that point, perhaps as a condition of the merger, Larry Ellison appointed Trump-friendly Bari Weiss as the head of CBS News, presumably with the hope that she could do what she’s doing right now– to kill any stories that would present Trump in a negative light. Clearly, a story about Trump illegally and inhumanely deporting migrants to a hellish El Salvadoran prison would present him in a negative light, and so Weiss performed accordingly.

Of course, the tragic irony is that Bari Weiss built her reputation on this idea that she’s some free speech crusader. Her publication is quite literally called The Free Press, which I suppose is about as apt as Lauren Boebert penning Musical Etiquette Weekly. But it’s sad, albeit remarkable, how quickly one person can destroy the legacy of not only the most credible show on news, but the highest rated show on news, in just the course of a few weeks. And yet Weiss offered up a clinic in doing exactly that.

What’s worse, Weiss has struck a decidedly Trumpian tone in her defiance. She wrote to her colleagues at CBS:

I want to say something about trust: our trust for each other and our trust with the public. 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. I held a 60 Minutes story because it was not ready. 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.

To be clear, it was ready. The story was screened, vetted, and lawyered. It was mere hours away from airing. 60 Minutes has been at the leading edge of reporting for decades; they haven’t and don’t need Bari Weiss’ seal of approval. Note, too, that she says it didn’t “advance the ball” because the Times and other outlets have also reported on this issue. Apparently, the new standard is that once one news outlet reports on something, no one else can. Strangely, I’m pretty sure we’ve seen other outlets cover the assassination of Charlie Kirk and interview his widow, and yet miraculously CBS deigned to cover it again during a nationally televised town hall— even though it didn’t “advance the ball.” Perhaps her new standard for covering the news isn’t quite on the level.

The swift degradation of CBS reputation under Weiss’ leadership is just one more proof point that the American media is being commandeered by an aggressive and coordinated conservative movement that is moving as quickly as possible to usurp control and rewrite history in deference to Trump. We’ve seen similar capitulation by ABC, the Washington Post, and CNN. We desperately need a counterbalance to the MAGA media that is infiltrating living rooms across the United States. This is precisely why I have spent years advocating for independent progressive media. For my part, I will never be bought. I will never be leveraged by the federal government. I will never kowtow to the far-right forces hellbent on trying to make Trumpism palatable. Please consider supporting this newsletter— or any independent media source that serves as an antidote to our broken legacy media. It’s never been more critical that we stand up and push back against these threats to our democracy.