CBS News axes star reporter Catherine Herridge in shocking layoff: 'Got rid of her enemies under the guise of budget cuts'

Award-winning journalist Catherine Herridge is out of a job.

On Tuesday, CBS News parted ways with Herridge, a senior investigative correspondent who primarily covered national security and intelligence. She had most recently reported on new allegations against President Joe Biden and the battle to release the transcripts of Biden's interviews with special counsel Robert Hur.

Herridge was seemingly caught up in a mass layoff impacting approximately 800 employees at Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS News.

But sources who spoke with the New York Post alleged that axing Herridge was not simply a cost-cutting measure.

The Post reported:

Sources said Herridge had clashed with CBS News president Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews — a sharp-elbowed executive who was investigated in 2021 over favoritism and discriminatory hiring and management practices, as revealed by The Post.

"[Ciprian-Matthews] got rid of her enemies under the guise of budget cuts," a source told the Post. "She cleared the deck and she had to sacrifice some others like [CBS News correspondent Jeff] Pegues."

Before joining CBS News in 2019, Herridge had worked at Fox News since its inception in 1996. Herridge is a widely respected journalist who often reported on topics the legacy media ignored. It was a shock, then, that Herridge was chosen as one of the reported 20 journalists at CBS News to be laid off.

Her surprise termination was widely eulogized on social media at CBS News' expense:

• "CBS News was one of the most respected names in journalism. That's no longer the case. Today, it fired Catherine Herridge who is facing financial ruin and even prison for protecting her sources. Herridge is a hero. CBS execs have behaved cowardly. Shame on them," journalist Michael Shellenberger reacted.
• ".@CBS is stupid (and cruel I might add) …CEO’s boss makes 32 million+/year and yesterday the company laid off Catherine Herridge (great reporter/incredible sources/honest) …is he really worth 32 million that the company loses great reporters?" journalist Greta Van Susteren said.
• "Catherine Herridge is a national treasure and journalistic hero. Old media is destroying herself. I can’t tell you what an insane move it is for @CBSNews to let her go — particularly during an election year…." Meghan McCain said.
• "This is terrible news for the network and a sign of the professional atrophy that is accelerating at various media organizations. Herridge was wonderfully 'old school' in insisting on objectivity and balance in her reporting," law professor Jonathan Turley noted.
  

Herridge, meanwhile, is at the center of a high-stakes First Amendment case in which a judge has ordered her to reveal a source for a story she reported during her tenure at Fox News.

Herridge has so far refused, and a judge has threatened to hold her in contempt of court.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!