CBS suddenly postponed the broadcast of the news program '60 Minutes,' which followed the Salvadoran prison that imprisons Venezuelans forcibly deported by the Trump administration, and the phantom episode that was not broadcast was leaked online.



CBS News pulled the plug on a documentary about the prisons where Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration are held at the U.S. on Sunday, December 21, 2025 (local time) at the last minute. The decision has sparked outrage both inside and outside of CBS News.

Outrage after CBS pulls 60 Minutes segment on El Salvador's Cecot prison | CBS | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2025/dec/22/cbs-pulls-60-minutes-segment-el-salvador-prison

CBS pulls 60 Minutes report on El Salvador's CECOT prison hours before airtime | CBC News
https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cbs-60-minutes-report-el-salvador-cecot-9.7024840

CBS defends pulling 60 Minutes segment about Trump deportations
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdrnv3keeneo

Inside the Bari Weiss decision that led to a '60 Minutes' crisis | CNN Business
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/22/media/bari-weiss-60-minutes-cecot-cbs-alfonsi-ellison

Archivists Posted the 60 Minutes CECOT Segment Bari Weiss Killed
https://www.404media.co/archivists-posted-the-60-minutes-cecot-segment-bari-weiss-killed/

CBS News' '60 Minutes' is a popular program that has continued to report on a wide range of topics, including politics and corruption, technology and intelligence, healthcare and education. CBS News explains about '60 Minutes' that 'journalists who have news worth sharing can contact us to safely share confidential information.'

'60 Minutes' was scheduled to air a documentary about the Cecot Prison in El Salvador, where more than 200 Venezuelans deported from the United States by the Trump administration are being held in early 2025. The Trump administration accuses the deported Venezuelans of being 'gang members' and sends them to Cecot Prison without due process or evidence. Reports have confirmed that 197 of the Venezuelans deported by the Trump administration have never been convicted in the United States, only six have been convicted of violent crimes, and fewer than 10 have been convicted of crimes committed in the United States or abroad. Nearly half of the men, or 118, were eligible for deportation but were deported midway through their immigration process.

However, on the day of the broadcast, CBS News posted a notice on their official website stating, 'The episode of 'Inside Sekot Prison' scheduled to air tonight has been postponed. It will now be aired at a later date.'




This sparked outrage from those involved, including the show's lead reporter, Sharyn Alphonsi, who interviewed people released from Sekot Prison about 'brutal and torturous' prison conditions.

CBS News Executive Editor Bari Weiss said, 'We put this story on hold because we weren't ready.' She explained that the reason for postponing the story was that 'very powerful testimonies' of abuse at Sekot Prison had already been reported, and that more information was needed. However, Weiss added, 'We must make every effort to get testimonies on the record and on camera.' Weiss also added, 'The American public already knows what's going on at Sekot Prison.'

Alfonsi, meanwhile, sent a message to his colleagues at CBS News saying, 'Our documentary has been reviewed five times, checked and approved by both CBS News lawyers and the Standards and Practices Committee. It is factually accurate. In my opinion, taking down this episode now, after it has passed all rigorous internal checks, is not an editorial decision, but a political one.' He also wrote, 'If the Trump administration is the reason for the cancellation, then we have effectively handed them a 'kill switch' to block all reporting that is in their favor.'

Democratic Senator Brian Schatz wrote on X, 'What's happening at CBS News is a gross disgrace. If executives think they can increase shareholder value by avoiding journalism that offends the Mad King, they're going to learn a hard lesson.'




Senator Ed Markey also criticized CBS News' decision, writing on X, 'A sad day for 60 Minutes and journalism.'




'This is completely designed to please President Trump, who has criticized 60 Minutes for being so amateurish and prestige-driven,' media commentator Kara Swisher wrote on Threads.

In addition, archivers have uploaded the postponed '60 Minutes' to torrents and multiple file-sharing sites .

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