Official: Correspondent Booted Off CBS '60 Minutes'

Sharyn Alfonsi, a veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent since 2015, believes CBS News has effectively removed her from the program after she publicly challenged Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss’s handling of her investigative report.

The report examined the Trump administration’s deportation of Venezuelan men to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison, described as a harsh maximum-security facility. Alfonsi accused the network of pulling the segment for political reasons after Weiss demanded changes, including more balance with the White House perspective, just hours before its scheduled December 2025 broadcast.

Alfonsi remains a CBS News employee, but her contract with “60 Minutes” expired earlier this month. 

According to sources familiar with the situation, network executives have made no effort to renew it through her representatives at the talent agency UTA.

The segment, which featured accounts of deportees sent to CECOT, had undergone internal fact-checking and legal review. It was ultimately aired in a revised form in January 2026 after leaking online, but the initial last-minute pull sparked internal tensions. Alfonsi sent a memo to colleagues calling the decision “political” rather than editorial, arguing that the administration’s refusal to comment should not kill the story.

Weiss maintained the piece needed additional work to meet standards. The dispute has highlighted broader concerns about editorial independence at CBS under new leadership.

Alfonsi has spoken out publicly, including in a recent award acceptance speech criticizing “corporate meddling” in journalism, and has reportedly engaged high-profile attorney Bryan Freedman amid the contract situation.

This development comes as “60 Minutes” navigates shifts in leadership and external pressures in a polarized media environment. CBS News has not publicly detailed reasons for the non-renewal.