The next journalist to get the axe at CBS News will reportedly be 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi, who has been with the program since 2015. Alfonsi will be “out at the end of the month when her contract expires,” according to a new report from Page Six.
This news comes months after Alfonsi became at odds with CBS News’ editor-in-chief Bari Weiss after Weiss pulled one of her 60 Minutes segments, which criticized Donald Trump‘s administration, from airing. The segment investigated the Trump administration’s deportation of Venezuelan migrants to a terrorism confinement center (megaprison) in El Salvador. It was pulled just hours before airtime.
Alfonsi, in a memo leaked to the press, accused Weiss of holding the story because it critiqued the Trump administration. She insisted that the decision was made for “political” reasons and not “editorial” ones. Weiss, on the other hand, said she pulled the story because it lacked on-record responses from the administration. The segment eventually aired in January, but tensions between Alfonsi and Weiss reportedly continued.
According to Page Six, Alfonsi is looking to work with lawyer Bryan Freedman to go up against Weiss if she is axed. Freedman previously worked with Megyn Kelly and helped her settle with NBC News for $69 million when she left the network in 2019, per Page Six.
However, another source pointed out to the outlet that Alfonsi likely won’t get such an impressive settlement because, rather than firing her, the network is allowing her contract to run out.
Alfonsi recently hinted at turmoil with her employer when she accepted the Ridenhour Courage Prize at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. last month. “My hope recently has been that I still have a job,” she said during her acceptance speech. She also referenced her pulled 60 Minutes segment and said it was the “result of a more aggressive contagion: the toxic spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear.”
Weiss took over as CBS News’ editor-in-chief in October and has been implementing major changes at the network, including the moving of Tony Dokoupil to CBS Evening News.
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