It has been a tradition in totalitarian systems for the government to install a monitor inside news agencies to make sure reporting is always favorable to the dictator. The fall of the Soviet Union and its KGB tight control over Pravda did not change things: Dicktator Vladimir Putin not only controls his country's media, but he even kills those journalists who dissent.
The US under Trump is following a similar course. Trump seemingly hasn't killed any journalist yet, but he is controlling editorial decisions within private US media institutions: at CBS, there is a government-imposed media monitor that ensures nothing bad is said about Trump. Which is why CBS just pulled from its schedule a program on the notorious prison in El Salvador (CECOT) where Trump is sending people arrested by his many his police forces (ICE, CBP, etc.)
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FCC Commissioner Calls CBS News Decision To Pull ‘60 Minutes’ Segment “Deeply Alarming”, Warns Of Trump Getting “Veto Power Over Critical Reporting”
Ted Johnson
Mon, December 22, 2025
Heather Diehl/Getty Images
The sole Democrat on the FCC said Monday that the CBS News decision to pull a 60 Minutes segment on Trump administration deportations is “deeply alarming” and risks giving the government “veto power over critical reporting by simply refusing to engage.”
Commissioner Anna Gomez said in a statement, “We are now seeing the real-world consequences of blurring the line between regulatory authority and editorial independence.”
“A free press cannot function if the government is able to exercise veto power over critical reporting simply by refusing to engage,” Gomez said. “That is fundamentally incompatible with the First Amendment and the role of journalists in holding those in power to account. These concerns are only heightened when a media company seeking favorable action on future regulatory approvals tempers or delays coverage critical of this Administration, raising serious questions about whether editorial decisions are being influenced by external pressure rather than journalistic judgment.”
On Sunday, just hours before the 60 Minutes broadcast, the show announced that the planned segment, which featured interviews with deportees sent to a harsh CECOT prison in El Salvador, was being pulled from the schedule. CBS News indicated that it would be run at a later date, and that it needed more reporting.
The correspondent on the piece, Sharyn Alfonsi, later wrote an email to colleagues that the piece had been screened five times and cleared by standards and practices and network attorneys, and had been promoted on social media. “It is factually correct. In my view, pulling it now, after every rigorous internal check has been met, is not an editorial decision, it is a political one,” she wrote.
Bari Weiss, the editor in chief of CBS News, defended her decision in a call with staffers on Monday, telling them that it was “not ready” and while it “presented powerful testimony of torture at CECOT,” it did not advance the topic, as the New York Times and other outlets have done similar work. “The public knows that Venezuelans have been subjected to horrific treatment at this prison. To run a story on this subject two months later, we need to do more. And this is 60 Minutes. We need to be able to get the principals on the record and on camera,” she wrote.
But Alfonsi wrote that they “requested responses to questions and/or interviews with DHS, the White House and the State Department. Government silence is a statement, not a VETO. Their refusal to be interviewed is a tactical maneuver designed to kill the story.”
Last summer, Gomez opposed the FCC’s approval of Skydance’s acquisition of Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS. Among other things, she faulted the companies for “capitulation over courage” as Donald Trump sought — and got — a $16 million settlement of his lawsuit against CBS and 60 Minutes, even though many legal observers called the litigation baseless. Weeks later, after Skydance said it would agree to hire an ombudsman to take complaints about news programming, and the deal then secured the FCC’s greenlight. The new Paramount later tapped Kenneth Weinstein, former president and CEO of the Hudson Institute, a right-leaning D.C. think tank, to serve in that role.
Gomez said, “The public has the right to question how CBS will ensure the independence and integrity of its journalism going forward, concerns which are only compounded by the existence of a government-imposed media monitor at CBS, a deeply flawed and unprecedented form of government involvement in editorial affairs. In the days ahead, I hope CBS provides its viewers with a clear accounting of how this decision was made and demonstrates how it will safeguard the independence of its newsroom.”
A CBS News spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
Paramount has made a hostile bid for Warner Bros. Discovery, in a transaction that will require approval from the Justice Department. Trump has said that he will be involved in the regulatory approval decision.
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