"60 Minutes" correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi announced Wednesday that CBS News declined to renew her contract months after she lashed out at editor-in-chief Bari Weiss for delaying a segment about allegations of abuses at the El Salvador prison CECOT.
Liberal critics of Weiss and Paramount CEO David Ellison have accused them of bending the knee to President Donald Trump and trying to curry favor with his administration. Alfonsi, a longtime correspondent for "60 Minutes," insisted late last year that the decision by Weiss to hold the story, "Inside CECOT," was done for political rather than editorial reasons.
Six months later, Alfonsi said her agent’s attempts to negotiate were ignored by CBS honchos and blasted the network for "abandoning" its mission to prioritize independent reporting.
"Over the weekend, my contract with CBS News expired, drawing to a close nearly twenty years with the network, including more than a decade at ‘60 Minutes,’" Alfonsi told Fox News Digital.
'60 MINUTES' CORRESPONDENT LAMBASTS 'CORPORATE MEDDLING' AT CBS, ADMITS SHE COULD BE FIRED
"Following an intense editorial dispute over our CECOT story, repeated attempts by my representation to establish a path forward were met with absolute silence from network executives. The message could not be clearer: my time at ‘60 Minutes’ is apparently over," she continued. "In the coming days, network leadership may attempt to hide behind corporate euphemisms like ‘modernization’ and ‘restructuring’ to explain away my departure. Don't be misled."
Alfonsi, who is technically still employed by CBS News, said that it was "not a routine corporate transition," and instead a "deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting, and it sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom."
"Fearless, independent reporting has always been the defining standard at ‘60 Minutes.’ Today, CBS management is abandoning that mission, choosing access journalism over accountability and protecting power rather than scrutinizing it," she said.
"The wall between editorial independence and corporate interest at CBS is being methodically torn down. Journalists willing to challenge authority are being pushed aside in favor of those who will not," Alfonsi added. "If this continues, the result will be a broadcast that looks like ‘60 Minutes’ but lacks the courage and character to produce journalism that matters."
CBS News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In December, Weiss delayed the "Inside CECOT" segment that featured Alfonsi interviewing some released deportees, who described torturous conditions. A CBS spokesperson told Fox News Digital at the time that it was determined the segment needed "additional reporting," reportedly due to concerns about not yet having an on-the-record response from the Trump administration for the newsmagazine segment.
In a stunning note to fellow "60 Minutes" staffers that quickly leaked to the media, Alfonsi said her segment was being held for political reasons, not editorial ones. Alfonsi told colleagues Weiss had "spiked" the story and not given her a chance to discuss it further.
"Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices," Alfonsi wrote. "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 added that "60 Minutes" made requests for comment to the White House, Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department. Their silence was their statement, she wrote, and allowing that to delay the story was effectively giving them veto power.
"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," she wrote.
CBS ended up airing the segment in January.
Alfonsi previously came under fire in 2021 for a "60 Minutes" segment where she challenged Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and painted a narrative that he had given supermarket chain Publix preferential treatment on distributing COVID vaccines because its PAC had donated $100,000 to his campaign.
However, the story came under significant criticism, including from Democrats like Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Jared Moskowitz. Publix had more than 800 locations in the state, making it an ideal location for distributing the vaccines to a state with a high senior population.
Publix fired back against the notion that it essentially bribed DeSantis, calling the suggestion "false and offensive."
Weiss has seen several high-profile talent exits during her tenure, which has been marked by sharp criticism from liberal media observers.
Fox News Digital’s Joseph A. Wulfsohn and David Rutz contributed to this report.
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