Political adviser Katie Miller—the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller—was sharply criticized after she mocked CBS News reporter Sharyn Alfonsi, who'd earlier sent an email to her colleagues calling out CBS News' Bari Weiss for killing a 60 Minutes segment about El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison facility.
In October, Paramount chief executive David Ellison unveiled a deal, valued at $150 million, to purchase Weiss’ contrarian outlet The Free Press, while also installing her as the top editorial leader at CBS News. The move fueled speculation among media analysts that Ellison was attempting to bolster the network’s credibility with President Donald Trump and the broader MAGA base.
CECOT is the centerpiece of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s aggressive battle against crime, which has relied on sweeping police measures and restrictions on basic rights to pacify El Salvador’s once-violent streets. The prison garnered worldwide attention after the Trump administration deported immigrants there earlier during the early days of its immigration crackdown.
At the last moment on Sunday, Weiss scrapped a planned segment that was reportedly set to sharply criticize the administration’s handling of migrants detained by ICE and sent to the prison. After the decision, correspondent Alfonsi, who led the investigation, went public, openly challenging her boss and sharing internal details about how and why the story was killed.
In a memo leaked to media outlets, Alfonsi criticized the decision to pull the segment, writing in part:
"Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices. It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one."
"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." ...
"Our viewers are expecting it. When it fails to air without a credible explanation, the public will correctly identify this as corporate censorship. We are trading 50 years of ‘gold standard’ reputation for a single week of political quiet."
Miller stepped in to accuse Alfonsi of merely wanting attention, suggesting Alfonsi herself had compromised the report's editorial integrity by aiming to air it on what Miller referred to as a "partisan program":
"When you want to become the story, you’ve lost any shred of journalistic integrity. The Legacy Media loves talking about themselves and is openly hostile to anyone who dare question their utter righteousness. 60 Minutes is a clear partisan program masquerading as impartial journalism."
You can see her post below.
Miller was swiftly called out—especially considering the report would not exist were her husband not the immigration architect of the Trump administration's draconian policies.
Weiss herself later released a statement defending her decision to spike the story:
"My job is to make sure that all stories we publish are the best they can be. Holding stories that aren’t ready for whatever reason—that they lack sufficient context, say, or that they are missing critical voices—happens every day in every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece when it’s ready."
During an editorial call the following day, she told staffers that "the only newsroom I’m interested in running is one in which we are able to have contentious disagreements about the thorniest editorial matters with respect, and, crucially, where we assume the best intent of our colleagues."
Weiss claimed she pulled the story "because it was not ready." And though the story "presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT," Weiss insisted, "it did not advance the ball—the [New York] Times and other outlets have previously done similar work."
Alfonsi of course disputed this, noting that she'd done her due diligence by reaching out to the White House, Department of Homeland Security and State Department for interviews.
