One of the undeniable truths of life in my world is that every media report you read, watch, or listen to is biased. Sometimes it's a legitimate bias because of time or space constraints. A reporter has to decide what facts are going to be most relevant and interesting to their audience. Other times they do so in order to influence your opinion in the way they want you to be influenced.
Sharon Alfonsi is one of the main reporters on 60 Minutes. She was responsible for the CECOT story regarding Venezuelan men sent to the prison in the Honduras as a result of their being in the United States illegally. The conditions in that prison are pretty bad, as with most third world prisons. CBS News Editor in Chief, Bari Weiss, pulled the story on the day it was supposed to air. That sent shockwaves and allegations of favoritism towards Donald Trump throughout the news division.
The memo she sent to the staff clearly pointed out that their story did not do anything to advance what had already been reported by multiple other news agencies. She also felt that Sharon and others on the show had not put forth enough effort to get somebody like Tom Homan or Stephen Phillips as representatives of the federal government to explain or answer questions about the program. Weiss also pointed out two specific instances in which relevant information had been left out of the story. Facts that would have rebutted the overall tone of the story presented by Alfonsi and her colleagues. Weiss concluded her memo by giving the reporters the phone numbers for those two men, pledging any support they needed, and expressing her desire to see the story air as soon as possible.
Alfonsi sent an e-mail to her colleagues at CBS News thanking them for their messages of support. She then went on to criticize her boss for turning the news division into a mouthpiece for the federal government or most specifically the Trump administration. She said silence from relevant government officials should not be a veto on a story. Her boss had criticized the staff's trick of sending a vague request for a statement to the spokesperson of several agencies at the last minute.
Weiss also pointed out in her memo, that Alfonsi and her staff had misrepresented a key fact about the government's position on 'due process' for illegal immigrants. The story claimed the government believed illegal immigrants have no right to any legal process before being deported. Weiss pointed out that CBS News had reported government attorneys arguing in court that illegal immigrants were subject to expedited deportation processes that included judicial review. Alfonsi and others had either ignored that fact, failing to present it to shed more negative publicity on the administration or were ignorant of something that is not only codified in statutes but had been reported by her own new division. Neither situation is acceptable.
Weiss' memo makes it clear she wants the story to air; she herself is disturbed by the policy and conditions of the prison, but she wants both sides of a legitimate difference of opinion to be presented. She believes the audience is entitled to full information and should then make their own decision about what is right and what is wrong.
I think she is correct. Weiss Points out 60 Minutes is a television magazine that reports stories. It is not an editorial vehicle. Sharon Vows to fight for what they have produced. That means she is going to fight for her effort to mislead the public and have them draw a conclusion that it may or may not be warranted by facts. Unfortunately, she is not alone in the mainstream government propaganda media. And the others that dominate the airwaves and Internet, they don't believe you will come to the right conclusion which is whatever their opinion might be. Because the facts won't support it so they must lie to you. Kudos to Bari Weiss for trying to set standards.
