Bari Weiss. (Photo by Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
On Sunday, just hours before “60 Minutes” was set to air, Bari Weiss was busy working the phones with reporters. Later that evening, the newsmagazine would go to air with a piece by correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi on migrants deported by Donald Trump’s administration to the notorious El Salvadorian prison CECOT—and Weiss wanted to shape the coverage around it.
It was the same piece Weiss had abruptly delayed just before it was originally slated to air in December, igniting widespread internal and external criticism. That delay came after the CBS News chief insisted the segment include an on-the-record response from the Trump administration, such as Stephen Miller. At the time, Alfonsi accused Weiss in an astonishing memo to her “60 Minutes” colleagues of blocking the legally-vetted and publicly-promoted story from airing at the last minute for political reasons.
By Sunday, however, Weiss had finally green-lit the piece—and she wanted to personally explain to reporters how it made its way to air and offer her perspective on the whole fiasco. Indeed, Status has learned that Weiss personally spoke to several reporters covering the controversy, chatting with them on the phone one by one to offer her preferred version of events. The conversations, which Status did not take part in and learned about independently, were conducted on background, allowing reporters to use the information without directly attributing it to the embattled editor in chief.
To be clear, it is rather unusual for a network boss to personally call reporters in the middle of such a controversy. That’s not to say it never happens, but it’s fairly rare. While television honchos will occasionally brief the press when rolling out a major initiative or project, reporters typically don’t hear them spin on their own behalf as they are actively embroiled in a major controversy. That task is typically left to the communications staff. In any event, what made Weiss’ outreach even more striking was some of the substance of what she conveyed during the calls.
Status has learned that during these conversations with reporters, Weiss…
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