CBS in Hot Water Over Alleged ‘Seizing’ of Star Journalist Catherine Herridge’s Reporting Files

Screenshot via CBS News

CBS senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge reportedly had her files, records, and computers seized by the company after she was laid off this month. A spokesperson for CBS, however, insisted in a statement to Mediaite that the company had not gone through Herridge’s materials and was holding them for her lawyers.

According to several reports, Herridge – who was investigating President Joe Biden at the time of her dismissal – was prohibited by CBS from taking her notes and other files, including documents presumed to contain confidential information from sources, when she was laid off.

The New York Post, citing sources “close to the network,” reported on Thursday that Herridge’s files “most likely contain confidential material from Herridge’s stints at both Fox and CBS” and “may contain privileged conversations she had with her lawyers or the identities of sources.”

One source told the newspaper that upon Herridge’s dismissal, CBS “boxed up all her personal belongings except for Herridge’s notes and files and informed her that it would decide what — if anything — would be returned to her.”

Sources also told the Post that it was unusual for CBS to seize such items and that the company had never done so before.

“They never seize documents,” one unnamed source said. “They want to see what damaging documents she has.”

After the company received heavy backlash, including from SAG-AFTRA, a CBS spokesperson told Mediaite:

Catherine’s personal belongings were delivered to her home one week ago, and we are prepared to pack up the rest of her files immediately on her behalf – with her representative present as she requested. We are awaiting a response from Catherine and/or her representative to do so. We have respected her request to not go through the files, and out of our concern for confidential sources, the office she occupied has remained secure since her departure.

In its own statement, SAG-AFTRA called CBS’ decision to seize the documents “deeply concerning” and warned that it set a “dangerous precedent for all media professionals and threatens the very foundation of the First Amendment.”

The union continued:

It is completely inappropriate for an employer to lay off a reporter and take the very unusual step of retaining and searching the reporter’s files, inclusive of confidential source identification and information. From a First Amendment standpoint, a media corporation with a commitment to journalism calling a reporter’s research and confidential source reporting “proprietary information” is both shocking and absurd.

The retention of a media professional’s reporting materials by their former employer is a serious break with traditional practices which supports the immediate return of reporting materials. We urge CBS to return this material to Catherine in support of the most basic of First Amendment principles.

At the time of her dismissal, Herridge had been investigating President Biden and his son Hunter Biden, and had allegedly experienced “internal roadblocks” to her investigation from within CBS.

In November 2022, Herridge authenticated the contents of Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop, which were first revealed by the New York Post in 2020.

Herridge is currently facing the risk of being held in contempt of court after she refused to reveal the source for a series of articles she wrote in 2017.

Diana Falzone contributed to this report.