Perhaps you missed it—no trace on the screen,
A story unseen, unforeseen, un-serene.
Three hours till air,
Then vanished from there:
A prison exposé wiped squeaky-clean.
On the hellsite it dropped with a thud,
“Sixty Minutes” now stuck in the mud.
CECOT went dark,
No footage, no spark—
Just silence where sunlight once budged.
Said Stelter, with eyebrow askew,
“Independence here? People may chew—
They’re threatening quits,
Over corporate fits;
Sacrosanct news, but for who?”
A memo then flew from Alfonsi, incensed,
Each sentence precisely defense-fenced.
“Five screenings, all clear,
Lawyers nodded, no fear—
This isn’t editorial, it’s censored.”
“We begged DHS, State, and the White,
For a comment, a quote, any light.
Their silence, you see,
Isn’t neutral—it’s key:
A veto disguised as polite.”
“If refusal now kills every tale,
Then the watchdog’s reduced to a snail.
Why investigate state,
If they dictate our slate?
That’s stenography, not a free trail.”
“These men risked their lives just to speak,
From a prison both brutal and bleak.
To ghost them today
For politics’ sway
Is betrayal at journalism’s peak.”
Remember old Wigand, pulled tight?
How that low point took years to make right?
Now history’s rhyme
Returns—different crime:
Not legal, but optics this night.
CBS said, “Don’t fret, it’ll air—
After more reporting, with care.”
But the newsroom replied,
With a collectively sighed:
“Who’s we—and is anyone there?”
Enter Weiss with a pause and a pen,
“Just add Stephen Miller,” she said then.
“And ‘migrant’ won’t do,
They’re illegal, that’s true—
Context matters… again and again.”
She told the Times calmly, composed,
“Stories hold till they’re ready—exposed.”
Which critics translate,
Without much debate,
As “Ready means never opposed.”
So a precedent’s quietly set,
One authoritarians get:
Don’t answer the press,
And the story says less—
A kill switch the state won’t forget.
From lawsuits to moguls who buy,
The press finds its oxygen dry.
When silence is power
And courage costs hours,
Even “Gold Standards” tarnish and die.
= new reply since forum marked as read