A longtime 60 Minutes correspondent who clashed with CBS brass over a segment critical of the Trump administration is out at the program after the network declined to renew her contract, according to a report.
Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi’s deal expired Saturday and CBS chose not to extend it, The New York Times reported. The exit comes months after a high-profile internal fight over a report on conditions inside El Salvador’s Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo, or CECOT, a prison used to hold deported migrants described by Alfonsi’s team as facing “brutal and torturous conditions.”
Asked about the decision Wednesday, Alfonsi told the Times, “It sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom.”
The conflict traces back to a last-minute decision to temporarily pull the segment before it aired. In internal emails obtained by the Los Angeles Times in December, Alfonsi told colleagues that CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss’ decision to spike the piece was “political.”
Sharyn Alfonsi- 60 Minutes
Several sources told the Times CBS executives viewed Alfonsi’s actions as “insubordinate.” Alfonsi told the paper she did not regret her comments and argued the network moved to punish a reporter for refusing to soften the story.
“I think it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize accurate reporting,” Alfonsi said, according to the Times.
Alfonsi said she was “not resigning” from CBS and added, “If they want me gone because I did my job, they’ll have to fire me.”
She also warned about the direction of the broadcast, saying, “The concern is we’re going to end up with a broadcast that looks like 60 Minutes but doesn’t have the courage or the character to produce 60 Minutes journalism that actually matters.”
The CECOT segment later became a public flashpoint after it mistakenly aired on the app of a major Canadian network, and copies circulated online. When the report officially aired in January, it included additional administration comment and photos of tattoos that had been on two migrants Alfonsi interviewed. Viewers who had seen the earlier version noted few other differences.
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Weiss, the founder of the right-leaning Free Press, was hired in October by Paramount CEO David Ellison, according to reports. CBS has since been undergoing a broader shake-up tied to leadership changes and corporate pressure.
Alfonsi joined CBS in 2011 and became a 60 Minutes correspondent in 2015. The final episode of the show’s season aired May 17, and she remained a regular presence even after the prison dispute.
The Daily Mail reported it contacted CBS and Paramount for comment.
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