I viewed the version of the 60 Minutes report “Inside CECOT” that was distributed to Canada’s Global TV app and circulated online, then pulled due to copyright claims. Based on my viewing of that version, here’s my critique.
Bari Weiss was correct: the story wasn’t ready for air.
Read on for details.
By way of background, the 60 Minutes segment titled “Inside CECOT,” reported by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, was originally scheduled to air on CBS on December 21. But editor-in-chief Bari Weiss abruptly pulled it just hours before broadcast saying that more work needed to be done.
The report investigated El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a massive maximum-security mega-prison built in 2022 under President Nayib Bukele as part of his aggressive anti-gang crackdown.
The prison is known for harsh conditions including allegations of torture, no outdoor access, and overcrowding.
The 60 Minutes report focused on the Trump administration’s deportation of over 250 mostly Venezuelan men to CECOT under a paid agreement with El Salvador, invoking wartime powers to shortcut normal due process. The 60 Minutes reporter interviewed two men who claim to have served time in CECOT but were released. They described enduring months of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse.
CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss postponed the segment, citing the need for additional reporting and stating it did not sufficiently advance prior coverage.
Alfonsi and her supporters allege Weiss’s decision was politically motivated.
After watching the report as edited, here’s my feedback on why it wasn’t ready for prime time.
Considering the subject matter, the story needed to explain:
- How 60 Minutes located the two alleged former CECOT inmates interviewed. If the two men were brought to 60 Minutes by the human rights group featured, that needed to be disclosed.
- How 60 Minutes confirmed, firsthand, that the men were CECOT inmates. If 60 Minutes did not confirm this critical fact, firsthand, that needed to be disclosed, as well as what assurances the reporter felt she had that the men are who they were presented themselves to be.
Other shortfalls that needed to be addressed or admitted in the story:
The bulk of the story was based on the word of an illegal immigrant with no stated independent verification of his key claims. It’s akin to taking the word of an alleged murderer that he’s innocent and a good guy who’s being unfairly persecuted for no reason. Maybe it’s true, but certainly the claims deserve to be treated with a dose of rational skepticism. In the 60 Minutes report: they were not.
60 Minutes characterized the main interviewee as a good guy with no criminal background or gang affiliation, based on his own word and the supposed absence of his name in a gang database.
Hellbound and Down 