Former CBS News reporter, Catherine Herridge, has unveiled photographs of her seized confidential reporting files, leading to controversy over journalism ethics and press freedom. The network took possession of these files after she was let go last year.
Herridge, a highly acclaimed journalist, was let go by CBS in February 2024 as part of a broader cost-saving strategy by its parent company, Paramount Global. She revealed on social media images of what she said were four large moving boxes, weighing over 100 pounds, of materials that were seized by the network.
“Exactly one year ago, @CBSNews returned my investigative reporting files,” Herridge posted on X on Wednesday. “Today, I am releasing photos of the records for the first time so you can see the sheer volume involved.”
Herridge stated that the materials included sensitive reporting about the origins of COVID-19 and the business dealings of Hunter Biden. She did not hold back in expressing her view of the network’s actions, describing the seizure as a “journalistic rape” and “an attack on investigative journalism.”
“I hope no investigative reporter has to suffer a similar injustice in the future,” she noted in her social media post.
A representative from CBS News declined to comment on the allegations from Herridge. However, during the dispute last year, according to Herridge, a lawyer from Paramount asserted that “CBS acted to secure and protect the material in Ms. Herridge’s office.”
The incident instigated an inquiry by Congress, with the House Judiciary Committee initiating an investigation into the actions of CBS. In April 2024, a subcommittee hosted a hearing titled “Fighting for a Free Press: Protecting Journalists and Their Sources,” in which Herridge testified about being held in contempt of court for refusing to divulge confidential sources related to a national security story.
The Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), which represents approximately 160,000 media professionals and actors, pressured the network to return the materials to Herridge weeks later. Herridge lauded the union for standing up “for journalism when CBS News executives seized my reporting files.”
The revelations from Herridge have reignited discussions about her time at CBS News, especially her attempts to report on Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 presidential election. Herridge, who embarked on her CBS career in 2019 after a long tenure at Fox News, alleges she encountered significant obstacles when trying to cover the story.
Per Herridge, in October 2020, she obtained materials from Hunter Biden’s laptop, including evidence of a million-dollar retainer from a Chinese energy firm and business communications involving the president’s son. She presented this evidence to CBS News executives, including then-Senior Vice President Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews and then-“CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell, but her reporting was never aired.
Herridge wrote that she was disheartened when she watched “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl tell then-President Donald Trump during an interview that the laptop’s contents “couldn’t be verified.” In her own words: “As I watched the broadcast, I felt sick.”
Only after the November 2022 midterm elections, two years later, did CBS News air a forensic review verifying the authenticity of the laptop data. By that time, other news outlets had already reported the information. Herridge has stated that she believed the story was ready before the elections, but network executives delayed the report.
Independent computer forensics experts, who conducted the review for CBS, found no evidence of tampering or fabrication in the user data, which included over 120,000 emails, 30,000 text messages, and other personal files belonging to Hunter Biden. The data seemed to have been created through normal everyday use of the laptop, according to the CBS report eventually aired in November 2022.
In a separate incident, CBS News has recently been criticized for its editorial practices regarding political coverage. In October, the network’s flagship program “60 Minutes” aired an interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris that showed condensed answers to questions about the Biden administration’s policies toward Israel. The editing led to scrutiny after the network had released two separate preview clips showing Harris giving different answers to the same questions.
Herridge, who has since started her own newsletter on the Substack platform titled “Catherine Herridge Reports,” continues to speak out about her experiences at CBS News and what she perceives as the suppression of important stories.
The conflict between Herridge and CBS has struck a chord with journalists and advocates of free speech, who have raised concerns about the potential deterrent effect on investigative reporting. The incident poses questions about the ownership of journalists’ notes, source materials, and the protection of confidential sources in corporate media settings.
