‘60 Minutes’ correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi out at CBS after CECOT dispute

Sharyn Alfonsi, a veteran correspondent for “60 Minutes,” announced Wednesday that CBS News has declined to renew her contract following a monthslong clash with CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss over a shelved segment on the El Salvador prison known as CECOT.

Ms. Alfonsi has worked for CBS since 2015 and remained technically employed by the network, but her contract at “60 Minutes” expired earlier this month. CBS News executives made no effort to contact her representatives at the talent agency UTA to negotiate a renewal, according to people familiar with her situation. 

“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,’” Ms. Alfonsi said in a statement. She accused CBS of “methodically” tearing down the wall between corporate interest and editorial independence, and warned that network leadership could attempt to disguise her exit behind language like “modernization” and “restructuring.” 

Ms. Alfonsi said in an interview with The New York Times that the nonrenewal “sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom,” adding that she believed it was “a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize accurate reporting.” 

The dispute centers on a “60 Minutes” segment Ms. Alfonsi produced on Venezuelan men deported by the United States to CECOT, a maximum-security prison in El Salvador where detainees described harsh conditions. Ms. Weiss pulled the segment in December, even though it had already been publicly promoted, citing the need for additional reporting. The story aired weeks later with minimal changes. 

In a note to colleagues that quickly leaked to the press, Ms. Alfonsi said the segment had been screened five times and cleared by CBS attorneys and the network’s Standards and Practices division. She argued that requiring an on-the-record response from Trump administration officials — who had not replied to requests for comment — effectively handed the White House veto power over unfavorable coverage.

Critics of Ms. Weiss and Paramount Skydance Chairman and CEO David Ellison have accused them of bending the knee to President Donald Trump and seeking to curry favor with his administration. CBS News did not respond to requests for comment. 

Ms. Alfonsi is the second “60 Minutes” correspondent to exit the program since Ms. Weiss became top editor at CBS News, following Anderson Cooper, whose final episode aired May 17. Mr. Cooper, who announced in February he would not renew his CBS contract, said on air that the independence of “60 Minutes” has been critical to its success and the trust viewers place in it. 

Separately, executive producer Tanya Simon could also be removed from her role later this year if CBS News declines to renew a one-year deal, raising the prospect that an outsider could be placed in charge of “60 Minutes” for the first time in the program’s history.

Ms. Alfonsi said in her statement that the changes at CBS represented a shift toward “access journalism over accountability” and warned that if the trend continued, the result would be a broadcast that resembles “60 Minutes” in name only. “Journalists willing to challenge authority are being pushed aside in favor of those who will not,” she said.