Bari's "Both Sides-sim" Proves to Be a Bust

CBS News finally released the “60 Minutes” segment “Inside CECOT,” last night-- one month after cosplaying editor-in-chief Bari Weiss abruptly stopped it from airing.  The delayed segment centered on the Trump administration sending Venezuelan migrants to CECOT, the infamous prison in El Salvador known for its cruel and inhumane conditions. Although Weiss halted it from airing in the U.S., a 13-minute version was temporarily released in Canada and widely shared online.

The decision from "Both Sides Bari" made headlines and caused significant backlash.  She claimed that she wanted to include an on-camera interview with a member of the Trump administration despite the administration’s refusal to do so.  “We need to be able to make every effort to get the principals on the record and on camera,” Weiss reportedly said during an editorial meeting after pulling the package. 

In an internal note at the time, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi described Weiss’ move as “political” because the segment had already met internal reporting standards. It is not clear whether Bari (who doesn't have a reporting background) was familiar with CBS' reporting standards.  In a statement, Alfonsi said: “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 destined 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.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that Weiss, Alfonsi, CBS News President Tom Cibrowski and other “60 Minutes” leaders met in New York “in recent days.” Alfonsi and a film crew also traveled to Washington, D.C., in an attempt to land interviews with Trump officials for the segment. Weiss, who has ties to the current administration, also attempted to lock down an interview with a Trump official but failed, per The Washington Post.  So the end result from Bari's stunt resulted in no significant updates to the story-- just a delay in reporting that waters down its impact.

There were some changes to the piece, however.  Alfonsi included additional commentary which noted: “Since November,  '60 Minutes' has made several attempts to interview key Trump administration officials on camera about our story. They declined our requests.”  Because of the delay in airing the episode, the new version also featured information about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was kidnapped two weeks ago with his wife, Cilia Flores by U.S. forces.

Bari's spokesperson tried to put a sheen of competence on her stunt: “CBS News leadership has always been committed to airing the 60 MINUTES CECOT piece as soon as it was ready.”   The fact remains that Alfonsi had already tried to get a Trump official to go on camera-- and they refused.  Bari obviously doesn't trust her reporters and cares more about her phony "both sides-ism" than real reporting.