Bari Weiss Looks Bad, Burying CECOT '60 Minutes' Episode During NFL Playoff Game

Late in December, CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss abruptly pulled an investigative "60 Minutes" episode on the Trump administration’s deportations of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador’s CECOT prison. Weiss told staff she delayed the interview because producers failed to secure an on-camera interview with a Trump administration official.

On Sunday, nearly a month later, Weiss ran the feature. However, the edition still did not include an interview with a Trump administration official.

But that is not the biggest story. As an industry source told OutKick on Sunday, CBS buried the episode against the NFL playoffs.

Instead of airing the episode after an NFL game on CBS, which the network had the opportunity to do for more than a month, it waited until the first Sunday on which CBS did not carry an afternoon playoff matchup. Instead, the edition ran head to head with the Rams Bears game on NBC, which began at 6 p.m. Typically, "60 Minutes" concludes before NBC’s Sunday Night Football at 8:20 p.m. begins.

As a result, the CECOT-centered episode will likely be one of the least watched of the year.

CBS will never admit to burying the episode. However, the network could have waited two more weeks and aired it on the Sunday before the Super Bowl, a weekend with no meaningful football games. Only a sucker would believe CBS coincidentally chose to air a controversial episode on the single Sunday when it would draw the smallest possible audience.

This was the equivalent of running a story on a Friday afternoon to minimize attention. Weiss, a journalist, is certainly aware of the Friday news dump play. 

Strategic. Sometimes necessary. But often cowardly.

As for the episode itself, the Washington Post, which reviewed the leaked version of the original episode, reported that the show aired with "minimal changes."

The segment included a new introduction that said, "Since November, 60 Minutes has made several attempts to interview key Trump administration officials on camera about our story. They declined our requests."

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 18: The Free Press' Honestly with Bari Weiss (L) hosts Amy Chua (R) presented by Uber and X on January 18, 2025 in Washington, DC.  (Photo by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Uber, X and The Free Press)

At the time of Weiss’ decision in December to delay the story, we acknowledged that "60 Minutes" is no longer the same prestigious program it was for so many decades. Over the past year, the show repeatedly blended its hard news with an editorial bent. Examples include a favorable report on the German government’s crackdown on speech, a critical essay on Trump cabinet members that cited claims about Tulsi Gabbard being a Russian asset, a glowing segment on DEI, and a piece that suggested sympathy for Hamas terrorists by questioning whether hostages were starved due to a lack of resources.

Had the staff attempted to produce another op-ed-style episode aimed at the Trump administration, we would have defended Weiss for pulling it entirely. That is not the purpose of the program. 

However, that is not why Weiss said she stopped its initial airing. She claimed it needed to feature on-air interviews from the administration. That is a dangerous precedent. It sends the message that the government can prevent a story from airing simply by refusing to participate.

Of course, it is standard in journalism to delay a story while giving the subject more time to respond. We just find it hard to believe that Weiss set the deadline for the first Sunday since September in which the show would have no NFL lead-in and would air directly against NBC Sunday Night Football.

Bari Weiss knew what she was doing. And it was slimy.