The saga over a 60 Minutes segment that aired in Canada regarding the deportation of illegal immigrants to El Salvador was missing a little something.
CBS’s editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, pulled the segment from Sunday’s show in the U.S. due to a lack of context, and now we know why.
The segment that aired in Canada was missing key statements from White House officials.
There was a firestorm of suggestions that Weiss was a Trump lackey when the report was pulled here in the United States, as well as outrage from Sharyn Alfonsi, the correspondent who reported the segment.
The report did air in Canada, and then it started to blow up all over the internet.
One of the changes Weiss wanted made to the segment was to include statements from the White House meant to give the administration's side of the story. Weiss reportedly stated, “We need to push much harder to get these principals on the record.”
That seems fair to me, as the story should not be one-sided. Viewers should get the full picture and decide on their own, but that was clearly not the case here, as Alfonsi appears to have been overly biased in the piece.
In addition to comments made by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, there was also a statement from White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson that was removed from the segment.
She reportedly stated, "60 Minutes should spend their time and energy amplifying the stories of Angel Parents, whose innocent American children have tragically been murdered by vicious illegal aliens that President Trump are [sic] removing from the country."
While the segment did not include any defensive statements offered by the White House, it did include an earlier comment from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
She stated, "These are heinous monsters, rapists, murderers, kidnappers, sexual assaulters, predators, who have no right to be in this country and they must be held accountable."
According to reports, producers at the network were furious with Weiss for having pulled the segment, and Miller had some advice for her on how to deal with them.
Charlie Hunt was subbing for Jesse Watters on his Fox News show, with Miller telling him, “They know that these are monsters, who got exactly what they deserved. Because under President Trump, we are not going to let little girls get raped, and murdered anymore.”
He continued, “And every one of those producers at ’60 Minutes’ engaged in this revolt, fire them. Clean house, fire them. That’s what I say, Charlie.”
I honestly don’t see the problem with what Weiss did, as she was literally asking the journalist to present a fair and balanced story. The reporter clearly only wanted one side of the story to be told to create outrage, but that, sadly, seems typical of the mainstream media these days.
