CBS News declined to renew Sharyn Alfonsi’s contract, ending the latest chapter in a dispute that began months earlier when a 13-minute segment she reported was pulled from 60 Minutes. Alfonsi’s deal expired on Saturday, leaving the veteran correspondent still employed by CBS but without a contract in place.
Alfonsi, who has contributed to 60 Minutes since 2015, said the network gave her no answer after her agent’s inquiries over the past several weeks. “It sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom,” she said, adding that she believed “it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize accurate reporting.” She said she had no expectation of returning to 60 Minutes and added, “I’m not resigning. If they want me gone because I did my job, they’ll have to fire me.”
The contract decision follows a tense period inside the broadcast’s newsroom after Bari Weiss pulled Alfonsi’s December report on harsh conditions faced by Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration. Alfonsi called that move “political” in an email to colleagues. Weiss said the reporting “was not ready” and suggested last-minute editorial changes, including that the reporters seek an interview with Stephen Miller. The segment eventually aired in its entirety one month later, with additional comments from the Trump administration added.
Alfonsi continued to appear on 60 Minutes through the end of the season, which concluded on May 17. But the expiration of her contract now turns a behind-the-scenes clash into a public personnel dispute at a moment when the program is facing broader change.
Weiss, appointed by CBS’s new owner David Ellison, is preparing a significant shake-up at 60 Minutes, according to people familiar with the planning. Options under consideration include new contributing journalists, shorter digital segments and 60 Minutes-themed live events. Weiss is also weighing the fate of Tanya Simon and whether to bring in an outside journalist to oversee or work alongside her.
For Alfonsi, the issue is not only whether she returns to the program that has carried much of her reporting for nearly a decade. It is whether the network’s silence over the past several weeks was the answer all along.
