February 15, 2024, 12:45 PM
RipleyCatherine Herridge, one of the few actual journalists in mainstream media, gets laid off by Paramount Global
quote:
Originally posted by goose5:
She won't stay unemployed for very long.
Getting another job is one thing, having technical support and working for an outfit whose name gets a foot in the door is another.
February 22, 2024, 12:08 PM
sjtillUpdate on Catherine Herridge firing: CBS seized her files.
Link: The Hill quote:
CBS faces uproar after seizing investigative journalist’s files
“Anyone who isn’t confused really doesn’t understand the situation.” Those words, from CBS icon Edward R. Murrow, came to mind this week after I spoke with journalists at the network.
There is trouble brewing at Black Rock, the headquarters of CBS, after the firing of Catherine Herridge, an acclaimed investigative reporter. Many of us were shocked after Herridge was included in layoffs this month, but those concerns have increased after CBS officials took the unusual step of seizing her files, computers and records, including information on privileged sources.
The position of CBS has alarmed many, including the union, as an attack on free press principles by one of the nation’s most esteemed press organizations.
I have spoken confidentially with current and former CBS employees who have stated that they could not recall the company ever taking such a step before. One former CBS journalist said that many employees “are confused why [Herridge] was laid off, as one of the correspondents who broke news regularly and did a lot of original reporting.”
That has led to concerns about the source of the pressure. He added that he had never seen a seizure of records from a departing journalist, and that the move had sent a “chilling signal” in the ranks of CBS.
A former CBS manager, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said that he had “never heard of anything like this.” He attested to the fact that, in past departures, journalists took all of their files and office contents. Indeed, the company would box up everything from cups to post-its for departing reporters. He said the holding of the material was “outrageous” and clearly endangered confidential sources.
February 22, 2024, 02:21 PM
BOATTRASH1I think she is sharp enough to have copies elsewhere of all her files. I sure hope so. Didn’t CBS pull something similar with another actual journalist? Can’t think of the name right now. Female.
Also, I would not be surprised to see the justice department come after Ms. Herridge on some trumped up BS.
February 28, 2024, 08:26 PM
parabellum.
CBS News boss who signed off on firing Catherine Herridge to get free speech award The CBS News boss who signed off on the controversial ouster of Catherine Herridge — a respected Washington correspondent who has been embroiled in a high-profile First Amendment case — is nevertheless being honored with a free speech award next month.
CBS News president Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews was selected by Radio Television Digital News Association to be among 13 honorees at the 33rd annual First Amendment Awards at The Watergate Hotel in Washington DC on March 9.
The irony was not lost on CBS News insiders who cited the fact that the exec was played a role in pushing out Herridge — an award-winning investigative reporter who is under pressure from a US District Court judge for not revealing how she learned about a federal probe into a Chinese American scientist.
Herridge may soon be held in contempt of court for not divulging her source for an investigative piece she penned in 2017 when she worked for Fox News and be ordered to personally pay fines that could total as much as $5,000 a day.
“The RTDNA must be tone deaf to give Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews and CBS News an award for the First Amendment,” said a longtime journalist. “It tarnishes the whole meaning of the award.”
The Post reached out to inquire whether the RTDNA Foundation was rethinking honoring Ciprian-Matthews.
In its response, the foundation declined to comment specifically on the Herridge controversy.
“The Foundation selected Ciprián-Matthews for her commitment to excellent and ethical journalism, especially at a time when the stakes are so high,” said president Dan Shelley. “Her leadership during some of the most challenging news stories in American history is a testament to the power of journalism.”
Last week, CBS parent Paramount announced it will lay off around 800 people at the debt-saddled company, including roughly 20 from CBS News.
A CBS source said the decision to oust Herridge was made by higher ups in the Washington D.C. bureau, where the reporter was based.
Ciprian-Matthews and other company execs approved of the decision, the person said.
“This restructuring does not in any way reflect on or diminish Ingrid’s well-deserved and outstanding journalistic record,” said a rep for CBS News, who called the news president “a highly regarded executive with decades of experience upholding the highest values of journalism.”
“Ms. Herridge was one of more than 700 people impacted on Feb. 13 at Paramount and dozens more from other news organizations enduring mass layoffs in Washington in the last few months including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Vice, Vox, the Messenger and more,” the rep continued.
Nevertheless, critics ripped the network and Ciprian-Matthews for allowing Herridge to get swept up in the mass culling.
“She was pursuing stories that were unwelcomed by the Biden White House and many Democratic powerhouses, including the Hur report on Joe Biden’s diminished mental capacity, the Biden corruption scandal and the Hunter Biden laptop,” Jonathan Turley, a legal scholar and a former CBS legal analyst, recently wrote in an opinion piece for The Hill.
The revelation comes as the House Judiciary Committee has launched an investigation into Herridge’s termination, as well as the handling of her files after she was let go.
CBS News retained Herridge’s personal files, which contained confidential information on her legal case, as well as stories she had worked on, among other things.
Facing mounting pressure from the House Judiciary Committee and SAG-AFTRA, the union representing the journalist, CBS News returned the files on Monday.
As previously reported by The Post, Herridge has run into “internal roadblocks” at the network as she covered the Hunter Biden laptop story.
She also clashed with Ciprian-Matthews, a sharp-elbowed executive who was investigated in 2021 over favoritism and discriminatory hiring and management practices, as revealed by The Post in January.
Indeed, sources speculated that Herridge’s firing could be retaliatory, as the correspondent sparked the 2021 investigation against Ciprian-Matthews.
It began when correspondent Jeff Pegues allegedly went on a 20-minute rant, in which he dressed down a senior correspondent — whose identity was recently revealed as Herridge by Puck News.
A source told The Post at the time, that Ciprian-Matthews, who was in the meeting, did not initially report the incident and attempted to “blame” Herridge for Pegues’ diatribe when it was finally brought to the attention of HR.
The incident opened a Pandora’s Box, as allegations that Ciprian-Matthews had protected Pegues and other diverse correspondents — to the detriment of primarily white, female correspondents — flooded the desk of Jennifer Gordon, an executive vice president of employee relations at Paramount Global who conducted the investigation.
The probe found that Pegues’ behavior was unprofessional, but months later, Ciprian-Matthews supported his promotion to Chief National Affairs and Justice Correspondent.
Gordon, who sources claimed failed to interview key witnesses in her probe against Ciprian-Matthews, concluded merely that the exec was a “bad manager” with limited resources, a source close to the situation told The Post at the time.
As first reported by The Post, Pegues was let go, along with Herridge, as part of a purge of 20 staffers at CBS News.
The Post has learned that Gordon was also let go amid layoffs at parent Paramount Global, which slashed nearly 800 jobs
“Between Pegues, Herridge and Gordon,” the only one left standing who witnessed it is Ingrid,” a CBS insider said.
A rep for Paramount Global said :”Per policy we don’t comment on personnel matters.”
July 12, 2024, 08:21 AM
TMatsI listened to the entire interview with Herridge yesterday. I came away with more respect than ever for her; she has integrity, almost completely absent from journalism now. She was given multiple opportunities to name names and get some measure of revenge for being summarily dismissed from CBS News, but she wouldn’t take the bait. Several times she said something like, “I don’t want to talk about that.”
Tucker Carlson is performing a valuable service for free speech with his program, but I found myself wishing that Joe Rogan had performed the interview.
July 12, 2024, 08:28 AM
sdyCBS News president Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews to exit after string of controversies including HR probe over bias accusations, sidelining white journalists
CBS News president Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews is stepping down following a string of controversies over her management of the embattled network, including accusations of discriminatory hiring and management practices.
The longtime CBS exec, who was named president last August, told staffers Wednesday that she would step down and become a senior advisor for coverage of the 2024 presidential election over the next several months before leaving the company.
“No journalist wants to ‘be’ the news, especially me,” Ciprian-Matthews said in a memo to staff obtained by The Post. “But today, I have some news of my own to share. After much consideration, I’ve decided this is the right time to step away from my current role at CBS News and begin to write my next chapter.”
