Fox Information media and political analyst Howard Kurtz joins ‘America Studies’ to debate why CBS pulled a ‘60 Minutes’ report on the Trump administration’s deportations to an El Salvador jail.
Following CBS Information’ delaying of a “60 Minutes” section inspecting the Trump administration’s deportation of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s CECOT jail, some media retailers have raised questions on whether or not the transfer was meant to curry favor with the administration amid an escalating battle for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Paramount and its majority shareholders, the billionaire Ellison household, not too long ago sweetened a bid for Warner Bros. Discovery to the tune of $108 billion. Contemplating WBD is at present transferring ahead with a deal to promote its film and streaming property to Netflix, Paramount’s bid is deemed a hostile one.
This week, Weiss created a furor over her choice to delay the airing of a “60 Minutes” section about CECOT, an uncommon transfer given the community had already begun selling the bundle forward of its anticipated Sunday night time airing.
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CBS Information editor-in-chief Bari Weiss speaks onstage throughout a Ebook Membership occasion with Peggy Noonan on Nov. 19, 2024, in New York Metropolis. (Noam Galai/Getty Pictures for The Free Press / Getty Pictures)
Correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi interviewed Venezuelan males deported by the Trump administration to the infamous jail for the section, which leaked on-line Monday after airing in Canada. Alfonsi lashed out at Weiss in a memo to colleagues, saying it was a political choice and can be seen as company censorship.
Weiss informed staffers on Monday she didn’t consider the story was prepared for air and known as for colleagues to interact in disagreement in a respectful method. In her notes to “60 Minutes” colleagues in regards to the section, Weiss known as for extra aggressive efforts to get Trump officers in entrance of the digital camera and decried a “unusual” portion involving evaluation of the jail by Berkeley college students. She has not known as for killing the section fully, however as an alternative desires extra reporting earlier than it may be aired.
Liberal media figures assume one thing rotten is afoot, with a number of breathless studies alleging Weiss’ actions are linked to the company machinations and the Ellisons’ connections to President Donald Trump.
A Tuesday report from New York Journal’s The Intelligencer steered that the Ellisons are vying for favorable therapy from the Trump administration by censoring the section. Larry Ellison, the billionaire father of Paramount CEO David Ellison and a Trump ally, has supplied $40 billion of his personal cash as fairness to assist sweeten the deal.
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“The Ellisons, who’re among the many very richest males on this planet, bought Paramount earlier this yr and at the moment are after a fair larger fish: They’re hoping Trump wields his antitrust energy to scuttle Netflix’s buy of Warner Bros. Discovery and permits Paramount, as an alternative, to eat WB, creating a brand new entertainment-and-media juggernaut,” New York Journal claimed.
Oracle co-founder, CTO and Govt Chairman Larry Ellison, accompanied by U.S. President Donald Trump within the Roosevelt Room of the White Home on Jan. 21, 2025. (Andrew Harnik / Getty Pictures)
Regardless of this alleged energy transfer, The Intelligencer argued that the Ellisons are “not but on Trump’s good facet, and that the president is “nonetheless fuming about 60 Minutes and the way it’s nonetheless not sycophantic towards him — not in the way in which he’d like.”
Certainly, Trump took a shot at “60 Minutes” on Fact Social final week, saying the present was treating him even worse than earlier than since David Ellison took over Paramount following its merger with Skydance Media this yr.
A Monday report from progressive outlet The Intercept was much more specific in its accusations of company interference associated to Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.
The outlet contended that Weiss’ transfer to spike the section was “an ideal instance of why Paramount’s new proprietor, David Ellison, employed her within the first place.”
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“[Weiss’] job is to suck as much as Trump, sure, however largely as a method –– not an finish in and of itself. If Trump favors CBS and Paramount, it might undermine the pending Netflix–Warner Bros. Discovery merger, assist Ellison take over WBD himself, and cement the Ellison household’s media focus to additional advance their enterprise pursuits and their right-wing ideology,” The Intercept alleged.
Paramount has not too long ago raised its bid for Warner Bros. Discovery to $108 billion. (AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Pictures / Getty Pictures)
The report went on to argue that Trump’s second time period has undergone “a complete abandonment of anti-trust regulation,” and that the Ellisons “have a possibility to consolidate unprecedented management of media into the palms of 1 firm.”
The outlet maintained that, by the facility of the federal authorities’s antitrust legal guidelines, Trump might tip the scales in favor of the Ellisons within the bidding warfare for Warner Bros. Discovery.
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In accordance with the outlet, Weiss and Ellison’s “interference” into “60 Minutes” isn’t essentially about selling “Trumpism,” it’s about selling the Ellison agenda and rising their huge media empire.
Earlier this yr, Paramount closed an $8 billion merger with Skydance Media that required Trump administration approval.
Whereas that performed out, CBS Information, which is owned by Paramount, settled an election interference lawsuit with Trump for $16 million over the way it edited a “60 Minutes” interview with Kamala Harris. The lawsuit was known as spurious by critics and the settlement was seen as an efficient bribe to get the merger over the end line, whereas supporters mentioned Trump was merely holding a liberal media outlet accountable for its dishonesty.
Paramount CEO David Ellison introduced a hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. Discovery on Dec. 8. (Charly Triballeau/AFP through Getty Pictures / Getty Pictures)
Weiss’ defenders on-line have mentioned her concepts to enhance the story had been fully affordable, and studies that Alfonsi’s section did not embrace on-the-record responses given by the White Home, State Division and Division of Homeland Safety have generated additional dialogue.
There is no such thing as a proof that Weiss made any editorial choices primarily based on company or political pressures. Since she turned CBS Information editor-in-chief in October, her tenure has been carefully scrutinized given her opinion background, notably for her pro-Israel and anti-woke views.
Alfonsi was additionally the correspondent behind a controversial “60 Minutes” section in 2021 that alleged a pay-for-play scheme between Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., and Publix that was harshly criticized by Democrats and Republicans within the state.
One factor is obvious although: If Weiss did hope to generate much less consideration for the story by selecting to delay it, she was sorely mistaken. The section, which will be seen right here, has gotten infinitely extra scrutiny than it could have if it had simply aired as scheduled.
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Weiss and CBS Information didn’t instantly return Fox Information Digital‘s requests for remark.
Fox Information’ David Rutz and Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
