60 Minutes journalist accuses CBS News of penalizing her after contract not renewed

The Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Sharyn Alfonsi has accused CBS News of penalizing her for “refusing to sanitize factually accurate reporting” and sending a “chilling message” to the newsroom by declining to renew her contract for the show. Alfonsi was at the center of a national firestorm after the CBS News editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss , shelved a segment she had reported on a notorious prison in El Salvador. She confirmed to the Guardian that she had not been offered a contract to return for the show’s 59th season, which begins in the fall. Her contract expired on Saturday, and a source close to Alfonsi said her team had not heard from CBS recently. Still, she remains employed by the network, and has said she had no plans to resign, meaning that CBS News would have to terminate her. (The New York Times first reported that she had not been offered a new contract.) On Wednesday morning, Alfonsi issued a lengthy statement criticizing the network’s decision-making and leadership. “Over the weekend, my contract with CBS News expired, drawing to a close nearly twenty years with the network, including more than a decade at 60 Minutes,” Alfonsi wrote. “Following an intense editorial dispute over our [prison story], repeated attempts by my representation to establish a path forward were met with absolute silence from network executives. The message could not be clearer: my time at 60 Minutes is apparently over. …