😱 “SENDS A CH:ILL:ING MESSAGE…”: Sharyn Alfonsi officially exits 60 Minutes as her CBS contract comes to an end, in a move that has sᴛunned insiders and fueled speculation about tensions behind the scenes — with many now questioning whether her departure signals a far deeper shift inside the network’s new leadership era.

Sharyn Alfonsi.Credit : Michele Crowe/CBS via Getty

Sharyn Alfonsi’s time at 60 Minutes has ended.

The correspondent confirmed to The New York Times that CBS declined to renew her contract, which expired on Saturday, May 23.

“It sends a chilling message to the entire newsroom,” Alfonsi, 53, said. “I think it was a deliberate choice to penalize a journalist for refusing to sanitize accurate reporting.”

PEOPLE learned that Alfonsi no longer works for the show, as of Thursday, May 28.

Also on May 28, Nick Bilton was announced as the new executive producer of 60 Minutes.

The news comes five months after CBS News’ editor-in-chief Bari Weiss abruptly pulled Alfonsi’s planned 60 Minutes segment that focused on Venezuelan men who were deported by the Trump administration to a notorious El Salvador prison in December. The last-minute, controversial change sparked internal debate at the network, per a private email that Alfonsi sent to fellow 60 Minutes staffers that The Wall Street Journal obtained.

A CBS spokesperson said in a press release at the time that the segment, titled “Inside CECOT,” needed additional reporting and would air at a future date. It ultimately aired in January. Weiss said the reporting “was not ready,” and that she had suggested several editorial changes.

In Alfonsi’s email, she said she learned the day before that Weiss had “spiked our story,” calling the decision “not an editorial decision” but “a political one.”

“Our story was screened five times and cleared by both CBS attorneys and Standards and Practices,” she wrote. “It is factually correct.”

The segment eventually aired in its entirety one month later with comments from the Trump administration.

Alfonsi told The New York Times on May 27 that she does not expect to return to 60 Minutes, but she is “not resigning.” She’s currently still employed by CBS, but does not have a contract in place, according to the outlet.

“If they want me gone because I did my job, they’ll have to fire me,” she said.

PEOPLE has reached out to 60 Minutes for comment. CBS News declined to comment to the New York Times on Alfonsi’s remarks or her future at the network.

In April, Alfonsi spoke about Weiss’ decision to pull the segment and about the network at large while accepting the Ridenhour Prize for Courage at the National Press Club, calling it “hard to watch.”

“I will not linger on the internal mechanics of the dust-up at CBS that led to our CECOT story being pulled, but we have to be honest about what it represents,” she said, according to The Guardian.

“It wasn’t an isolated editorial argument. In my view, it was the result of a more aggressive contagion: the spread of corporate meddling and editorial fear.”

Alfonsi has worked on 60 Minutes since 2015. Her departure follows her colleague, Anderson Cooper, who signed off from the air on Sunday, May 17, after nearly 20 years with the program.

In April 2025, longtime 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens announced that he would be stepping away from the CBS newsmagazine. The news came amid Paramount’s legal battle with President Donald Trump, who sued the show over the editing of a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. Paramount later paid $16 million to settle the lawsuit without an admission of wrongdoing.