Cecilia Vega, a veteran television news reporter who was fired from her job 60 minutes “I’m very afraid of what comes next” for the longtime newsmagazine, which is undergoing a major overhaul under CBS News Editor-in-Chief Barry Weiss, he said Thursday in a fiery statement.
Weiss finished off Vega and his teammate 60 Reporter Sharyn Alfonsi and Executive Producer Tanya Simon. She hired veteran journalist Nick Bilton to become the show’s new EP.
“In recent months, my production teams and I have faced efforts to include political bias in our stories,” Vega said in her statement, though she did not go into detail about what that would entail. “Reporting teams have refrained from presenting news presentations on important news topics for fear of internal repercussions
“Let’s call this what it is: both imposed and self-imposed censorship,” she continued. “It’s dangerous for supply and it’s dangerous for democracy.”
A CBS News spokesperson responded: “We respect Ms. Vega and her contributions, but her claims are not based in reality.”
Vega joined 60 minutes Three years before ABC News, this was a big step for the network news veteran.
“I stuck to that line and refused to include any suggestions that offended the conscience, a phrase I borrowed from a colleague who also fought to keep questionable editorial suggestions out of the facts,” she said. “I know from many conversations with colleagues that many of the production teams and reporters working on the show today have had to struggle to maintain editorial independence on a regular basis. I’m not the only one.” 60 minutes The reporter who asked herself: “What’s my personal red line? How far can I back down before I pay the price?”
