Listen to this article
About 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Pronunciation errors may occur. We work with our partners to continually review and improve results.
Part of a postponed 60 minutes A segment criticizing the Trump administration’s deportation policies was temporarily available to watch Monday on a Canadian network.
CBS News released its report on a mega-prison in El Salvador hours before it aired Sunday night, but part of the episode briefly appeared on Global TV’s free website and app on Monday.
Viewers in Canada – or those around the world with a VPN – were able to watch just over 13 minutes of the segment online. Some screen recorded the episode and uploaded versions to YouTube, TikTok and Reddit, where they continued to circulate.
The segment was available for at least two hours before being removed. CBC News has contacted Global and Corus, its parent company, for comment.
CECOT houses hundreds of Venezuelans deported from the United States without trial. In the 60 minutes episode, correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi said the reporting team spoke with some of the men who endured “one of the harshest prisons in El Salvador.”
The portion of the segment available online in Canada referenced a meeting this year between Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele and U.S. President Donald Trump, during which Alfonsi said Trump “expressed admiration for El Salvador’s prison system” despite human rights groups’ condemnation of violations.
“They’re great facilities, very strong facilities and they’re not playing games,” Trump said during the White House meeting in April.
The segment caused a furore without ever airing after CBS News pulled the episode from its programming. A CBS News spokesperson said the decision was made because the show “needs additional reporting” and will air at a later date.
Editor-in-chief Bari Weiss, founder of the Free Press website, sought to include the Trump administration’s perspective in his article. Weiss said in a statement that publishing stories that aren’t ready, because they lack context or are missing critical voices, happens in newsrooms every day.
In a letter obtained by The New York Times, the correspondent who reported the story said the episode was not aired for “political reasons.”
“Our story was reviewed five times and approved by both CBS lawyers and Standards and Practices,” Alfonsi wrote in the memo, according to the Times.
“This is factually correct. In my opinion, removing it now, after all rigorous internal checks have been carried out, is not an editorial decision, it is a political decision.”
CBS News released a 60 Minutes report on El Salvador’s CECOT prison just hours before its scheduled broadcast Sunday, saying it would air later.
Global is owned by Corus Entertainment, which has a brand licensing agreement for broadcast 60 minutes in Canada.
CBS changed ownership in August when Skydance Media — led by David Ellison, son of longtime Trump supporter Larry Ellison — acquired Paramount, the broadcast network’s parent company.
David Ellison helped win regulatory approval for the deal by promising that the CBS network would reflect the “diverse ideological perspectives” of American viewers.
Weiss was tapped to lead CBS News in October following the Paramount Skydance merger.
