Fired CBS News reporter Katherine Herridge accused her former editors of “disobeying orders” from their own bosses at the Tiffany network – namely media heiress Shari Redstone and CBS CEO George Cheeks – to investigate Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Posted by Herries An explosive video on X It was revealed Tuesday that Cheeks had told him “multiple” times that he wanted him to investigate the Hunter Biden laptop scandal — a directive that came directly from Redstone, the controlling shareholder of CBS parent company Paramount Global, who pressured him to Was “high priority”. ,
“George Cheeks told me on multiple occasions that this was a top priority story for the network and it was a high priority for his boss, Shari Redstone. So I took that charge and I did it to the best of my ability,” she said.
Cheeks told him that CBS wanted to hold “accountability” on the issue and “speak truth to power on both sides of the aisle”, which the investigative reporter welcomed.
But the journalist said that there is opposition within leftist networks over the investigation of the president’s son’s laptop and its contents revealing corruption by President Biden.
“There were some corners of support for it in the company and there were corners of support that understood the value of investigating the Hunter Biden story, but there were some elements within CBS News that were resistant to it,” Herridge said.
“It doesn’t matter what the facts of the case really were, and that troubled me deeply as a journalist.”
CBS did not respond to requests for comment.
Earlier this month, Herridge revealed about his Recently launched newsletter His direct bosses, Washington bureau chief Mark Lima and CBS News president Ingrid Cipriani-Matthews. Herries’ reporting pushed backDebunking potential stories in the early days of the laptop scam.
retainer of a Chinese energy firm, along with other messages and emails, but his report was never disseminated.
In his blistering accusation, Herridge said that he Brought evidence to Cyprian-Matthews And in early October 2020, “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell reported that the laptop contained business texts and emails from Democratic challenger Joe Biden’s son, as well as “a million-dollar retainer from a Chinese energy firm.” There was material about.
But his reporting was never broadcast.
The Post was the only mainstream publication at the time to report that the laptop belonged to Hunter Biden – which got the story banned By social media giants Facebook and Twitter.
It took an additional two years for CBS to air its forensic review of the Hunter Biden laptop data. By that time, Ciprian-Matthews had been promoted to the role of President of CBS News.
Significance of Herring’s coverage of Hunter Biden laptop
scam. CBS via Getty Images
“When we did the story, we did it after midterms. I argued against it because it was ready before midterms and my training is that you should always do the story when it’s ready to run,” she said in Tuesday’s video. “You shouldn’t be guided by the political cycle.”
After this piece aired, Herridge was inspired to continue reporting what the forensic review had revealed.
“For example, in the text messages, unfortunately there is use of the N word, liberal use of the N word, and I thought it was worthy of a story, but I was told it was not something CBS News be interested in, he said, noting that CBS did not write that story, but they also obtained information from the forensic review, which revealed “over half a dozen emails that were possibly used by Joe Biden “
“I thought it was a story, but the response that came was, ‘Well, we need to know what the contents of the email are,'” she said, explaining that it was going to be a “years-long process.” Was. To receive that information and as a result, he was asked not to pursue it further.
As the award-winning journalist continued to research the laptop story, she said she was struck by the “disconnect” in the Tiffany network.
“I didn’t understand how a senior executive like George Cheeks could tell me this was a high priority for the network and his boss, and yet CBS News executives pretended the producer-anchor could deny it,” He said.
“I came to the conclusion that he must have felt he was more powerful than George Cheeks, which was surprising to me. “I’ve never worked at a place where there was so much disregard for instructions from the top,” Herridge said.
Earlier this year, Herridge was fired in a round of widespread layoffs at CBS News-parent Paramount Global. The reporter said she was shocked to learn that his head was on the chopping block, as he had continuously dug up scoops.
The investigative reporter said the timing raised eyebrows, noting that when she was fired she looked at the metadata of the one-sheet that her termination letter had created on February 9, following Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation by Herridge and the final A day after covering the report. In President Biden.
“I reported the facts of that investigation that it was highly critical of the President, that it portrayed him as a nice old man with a bad memory and that he could not be prosecuted, among other reasons. So I found the timing of that very important, besides the fact that I was given an assignment that was intrinsically very difficult, but I was completely committed to it, and I got CBS in the first place on a story like that. Every effort was made to keep what was not popular. Among a lot of people in that network,” she said.
CBS News seized Herries’ reporting materials. After it’s over.
Sources close to the situation claimed that the decision to withhold her files was made by Cyprian-Matthews. The network did not comment on specifics.
files were returned A few days later, amid pressure from the union representing Herries.
earlier this year, The Post reported Cyprian-Matthews was accused of sidelining and blocking white journalists Herring’s reporting on Hunter Biden laptop,
executive quit suddenly In August, and moved into the role of senior advisor for coverage ahead of the 2024 presidential election. He is no longer on the network.
