CBS halted a vetted 60 Minutes investigation hours before its Dec. 22, 2025 broadcast, raising concerns about editorial independence.
The pulled segment, “Inside CECOT,” examined alleged abuse at El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center and cited Human Rights Watch and UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center. Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi and editor-in-chief Bari Weiss publicly diverged, with CBS News standards and legal reviews complete.
Weiss attributed the decision to the Trump administration’s refusal to sit for an on-camera interview and said the piece offered limited new findings. Staff emails warned of a precedent, the report aired in Canada, spread online, and 60 Minutes viewership fell from 10.4 million in Dec. 2025 to 8.97 million by Jan. 2026. CBS has not scheduled a domestic broadcast.
