“60 Minutes” correspondent Cecilia Vega said Thursday that she was fired and issued a blistering statement in which she accused CBS News of “censorship, both imposed and self-driven.”
Vega, who joined the prestigious TV newsmagazine from ABC News in 2023, said her contract wasn’t up until March 2027. The network did not respond to a request for comment.
Vega got the ax in a major shakeup at the long-running show. CBS News Editor in Chief Bari Weiss ousted the executive producer, Tanya Simon, and replaced her with Nick Bilton, a former New York Times tech columnist and Vanity Fair contributor.
Sharyn Alfonsi, a veteran “60 Minutes” correspondent who clashed with Weiss over a segment on Donald Trump’s immigration policies, also exited after her contract was not renewed.
Read Vega’s full message here:
I was fired today. My contract as a correspondent for 60 Minutes was not set to expire until March 2027.I have the utmost respect and admiration for my colleagues at 60 Minutes and the stories that air every Sunday. But I very much fear what comes next for and the future of the legendary broadcast.In recent months, my producing teams and I have experienced efforts to insert political bias into our stories. Reporting teams have held back on submitting story pitches about important news topics out of fear of the internal repercussions.Let’s call this what it is: censorship, both imposed and self-driven. It is dangerous for the show and dangerous for democracy.I held the line and refused to incorporate suggestions that offend the conscience, a phrase I borrow from a colleague who has also fought to keep questionable editorial suggestions away from the facts. I know from many conversations with colleagues that many producing teams and correspondents working on the show today have had to fight to maintain editorial independence with regularity. I am far from the only 60 Minutes correspondent who has asked herself, “What is my personal red line? How much can I push back before I pay the price?”I am proud of the work I did for 60 Minutes. This season alone I was part of teams that won two of the highest honors in our profession — a George Polk award and a duPont-Columbia award for our coverage of Venezuelan migrants sent by the Trump administration to El Salvador’s Cecot prison. And not for nothing, I climbed to Mount Everest.I also walk away with an honor no one can take from me: I was the first Latina correspondent to ever be on 60 Minutes.Today I lost an amazing job. But I still have my integrity.To my former colleagues, continue to hold the line.
