Former “60 Minutes” correspondent Cecilia Vega, a Bay Area native, is opening up about her closing months at CBS News.
Two months after she was fired from “60 Minutes,” Cecilia Vega is sharing particulars in regards to the troubling editorial pressures she mentioned she confronted after Bari Weiss was positioned in control of CBS News.
The East Bay-raised former Chronicle and ABC7 News correspondent opened up about her closing few months on the newsmagazine through the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Conference & Expo in New Orleans on Thursday, July 23, when she appeared in a dialog with John Quiñones, her former colleague whereas she was the senior White House correspondent at ABC News.
Vega, 49, mentioned she was significantly disturbed by makes an attempt by CBS News executives to form her protection after the deadly shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Minneapolis in January, alleging she was pressured to incorporate occasions that “never happened” and slant tales towards Trump administration talking points.
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In one instance, Vega mentioned she was requested to incorporate a remark by Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey by which he purportedly requested metropolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara to order his officers to confront and combat ICE brokers. But Vega mentioned she and her manufacturing crew scoured “every frame” of Frey’s information convention and located no proof of that assertion.
“That never happened,” Vegas instructed Quiñones. “We could not find any instance of the mayor saying something like that.”
Vega added she was requested to incorporate video footage of protesters attacking individuals they believed have been undercover ICE brokers despite the fact that Vega and her crew discovered “no credible examples” of such incidents.
Weiss was employed by Paramount CEO David Ellison to be editor in chief of CBS News in October, regardless of having by no means labored in tv. She had labored within the opinion departments of the Wall Street Journal and New York Times earlier than co-founding the conservative-leaning media firm the Free Press along with her spouse, Nellie Bowles, a San Francisco native who beforehand labored for the Chronicle.
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In May, on the finish of its 58th season, “60 Minutes” underwent a collection of main modifications. Vega, the primary Latina correspondent on the oldest and most-watched newsmagazine on tv when she was employed in January 2023, was fired together with fellow correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi and senior govt producers Tanya Simon and Draggan Mihailovich.
Correspondent Anderson Cooper additionally resigned, and in early June correspondent and former CBS News anchor Scott Pelley was fired.
Since then, Vega admitted that she has been reluctant to debate her firing.
Earlier this month, she declined an interview with the Chronicle, although she shared that “I don’t know what’s next. … For now I’m going to stay on the sidelines for the most part as I explore opportunities.”
“It’s not that I just lost a job,” she instructed Quiñones. “There is a lot at stake. Sometimes you’ve got to be scared and do it still.”
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In her remarks Thursday, which have been first reported by Status, Vega mentioned she was by no means requested to alter her reporting by Weiss straight, however relatively by the “new administration at CBS News.”
Soon after Weiss took cost of “60 Minutes,” new executives started attending screenings whereas tales have been in progress to present intensive suggestions.
“Never in my career until now have I felt that those edits, those suggestions, came from a place of misinformation or politics,” Vega mentioned. “That’s the difference.”
Vega cited different examples of CBS News’ makes an attempt to form her tales. She mentioned she was instructed to open a bit in regards to the U.S.-Israeli struggle with Iran with, “Who is winning the war? Iran is totally outgunned by the United States and Israel.”
Vega mentioned that proposed language gave the impression of a Trump “administration talking point.”
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In a narrative about residents in West Virginia who have been affected by Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program profit cuts within the state, Vega recalled being requested why she had not sought an interview with Vice President JD Vance or referenced his 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” about his Ohio upbringing in a tradition of poverty and habit. Her rationalization: She needed to report the story “through the voices of strictly residents.”
Vega mentioned Thursday she was proud that she resisted what Quiñones referred to as “meddling.”
“If you watch my pieces, you’d see those examples did not make it in,” mentioned Vega to loud applause from the viewers.
Vega famous she has clashed with executives prior to now as a part of the conventional give-and-take course of, however by no means anticipated it to escalate to this extent. She added that she nonetheless doesn’t know why she was fired.
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“It’s been about three months now … and I don’t know,” she mentioned. “I still have not been given a reason.”
CBS News has not responded to requests from a number of publications, together with the Chronicle, for remark about Vega.
