It’s Okay to Say “I Don’t Know”: The 60 Minutes Story That Was Spiked—and the Media Frenzy That Followed

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CBS News’ decision to pull a planned 60 Minutes segment on an El Salvador prison housing Venezuelan migrants sparked instant outrage, speculation, and political spin from every direction. Some inside CBS called it censorship. Management said it was an editorial call. The truth is, right now, nobody outside the room actually knows.
Instead of facts, the media and online commentary rushed to fill the void with certainty—proof once again that rage bait and tribal narratives matter more than restraint or honesty. In this episode, Chris makes a simple but unpopular case: it’s okay to say “I don’t know.”
From journalism to investing to everyday life, pretending to have answers you don’t have is how people get misled. Real intelligence isn’t loud certainty—it’s knowing your limits, doing the work, and letting the facts come in before drawing conclusions.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it will have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Sixty minutes and I don't know, okay, so sixty minutes.
CBS News pulled a planned sixty minutes segment on an
El Salvador maximum security prison where the Trump administration sent
hundreds of Venezuelan migrants. This is a last minute decision

(00:37):
that obviously do a review from some of its highly
paid and highly pro high profile correspondence over at CBS,
Sharon Alphonsi said in a Sunday email to fellow correspondence
including Leslie Stall, Scott Pelly, and Anderson Cooper. That's he
learned Saturday that the new CBS News editor Barie oh I,

(01:00):
spiked our story, and in her view, it was a
political decision rather than an editorial call. Barbie says, my
job is make sure that all stories we publish are
the best they can be. Holding stories that aren't ready
for whatever reason, that they lack sufficient contacts say or
that they are missing critical voices happens every day in

(01:21):
every newsroom. I look forward to airing this important piece
when it's ready. Now, I don't know. I don't know
if it was pulled for political reasons. I don't know
if you know it wasn't. I don't know if it
was an incomplete peace. Hey, listen, sixty minutes has done
some great work over the years, and it's also done

(01:43):
some shoddy work as well. And anybody, anybody who is
on air that's you know, you got either sides of
the coin, speculating on this outrage that had happened, or
thrilled because it spiked the story. They don't know either.
They don't know either. You know, I was learned. I
had no idea. Dave Chappelle one of my favorite stand

(02:06):
up comedians of all time, one of the greatest of
all time. He released a comedy special this past weekend,
and it was after that fight that and again I
watched a little bit of it. If you want to
even call that a fight, that was the biggest I mean,
it was ridiculous. I was brutal. I can't believe it
didn't stop it even earlier anyway, neither here nor there.

(02:28):
I got word I watched it after the fact. Dave
Chappelle did an entire bit, an entire bit of what
we've been telling everybody for a long time and trying
to get across to people that it's okay to say
I don't No, it's okay. We try really hard not

(02:50):
to speculate. Ever here on the program, I get tips
and oh this and that. I'm like, I don't know
who you are. Again, I do a little bit homework.
If you're not willing to put your name to something,
I wouldn't go with it. Sources say you get this
all the time and store in various different media sources,
and I don't like any of it. But if you
don't know something, it's okay to say I don't know.

(03:15):
You can say, well, you know what, it looks this way.
I speculate like this, But to be, you know, come
out and say definitively when you don't know is again
it's it's not the prudent thing to do. The same
thing holds true in anything in life. I get a
question from a client in regards to, you know, what

(03:37):
should I do the tax strategy for this move this,
I'm like, and I get moved. I don't know. I'm
gonna say I don't know, but I'll find out. You
speak to the attorney, let me speak to the account.
We'll figure this out. I'm not gonna make it up
and pretend it's okay to say you don't know, you
can't know everything, and it's actually that's the ultimate sign

(03:59):
of intelligence, is when you understand that you don't know
what you don't know, and you're not insistent on things. Again,
all of these people, I'm on this side. I'm on
this side, so no matter what this has to happen,
I'm on the right. Rops there we're trying to get
Trump on the left. Oh you know, there's is censorship
and the government's getting involved. I don't know, and neither
do you, So you know, why don't you hold your fire?

(04:25):
But the end, they don't like doing that because what's
what's ther modus operandi? Rage bait. Let's get everybody fighting
against one another. I'm gonna let this play out. This
is need investigation, need to look into this, sure, but
I don't know. Do you watch Dog on Wall Street
dot Com