Catherine Herridge, an award-winning senior correspondent for CBS News, was among several of the network's employees let go Tuesday by parent company Paramount Global, which slashed a total of 800 jobs.
The layoffs accounted for 3% of Paramount Global's workforce, the New York Post reported. The media industry has been struggling with the changing landscape of streaming services dominating traditional TV and the impact of the Hollywood strikes last year, the Post reported, adding a soft advertising market and economic uncertainties have added to the pressure.
The Post reported 20 people were let go from CBS News, which had nearly 2,000 employees. The layoffs came after CBS raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising revenue from Super Bowl LVIII, which was the most-watched show in TV history.
Herridge joined CBS in 2019 from Fox News and was the senior investigative correspondent covering national security and intelligence. She has been in a First Amendment legal fight over stories she did at Fox on a federal investigation of Chinese American scientist Yanping Chen for lying on immigration forms related to work on a Chinese astronaut program, though no charges have been filed.
A federal judge ordered her to reveal her source or be held in contempt of court, where she could be jailed and ordered to personally pay fines that could total as much as $5,000 a day. The Post reported a source close to the situation said Fox is paying for Herridge's legal counsel.
The Post also reported sources said Herridge clashed with CBS News President Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews — who was investigated in 2021 over favoritism and discriminatory hiring and management practices.
Other casualties included correspondent Jeff Pegues, who was subjected to an investigation over his workplace behavior, the Post reported, including an alleged incident in which he dressed down a female colleague in a "20-minute rant."
Also let go, the Post reported, was Christina Ruffini, a political correspondent featured on "CBS Evening News with Norah O'Donnell," "CBS Mornings" and "CBS Sunday Morning;" and Pamela Falk, a correspondent for the United Nations.
The Post reported CBS News did not respond to requests seeking comment.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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