Bloodbath at Paramount claims 800 jobs including CBS News journalists embroiled in controversy

https://nypost.com/2024/02/13/media/bloodbath-at-cbs-news-includes-
reporter-fighting-first-amendment-case/

Several CBS News reporters were caught up in layoffs at Paramount Global 
that claimed 800 jobs, including one who is embroiled in a high-stakes 
First Amendment fight — and another who has reportedly weathered HR probes 
over his workplace behavior, The Post has learned.

Catherine Herridge — an award-winning senior correspondent whose First 
Amendment case is being closely watched by journalists nationwide — was 
among the hundreds of employees at CBS parent Paramount who got pink slips 
on Tuesday, sources told The Post.

The carnage provoked outrage from the rank-and-file at CBS, with some 
focusing their ire on Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish, who pulled down $32 
million in total compensation last year despite the company’s ever-
shrinking financial profile.

“Everybody in the newsroom is pissed that Bob Bakish is making over $30 
million and he’s making these cuts,” one insider fumed.

Elsewhere, some suspected the layoffs were more than just cost-cutting.

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.

Sources said CBS News’ Washington bureau, where Herridge covered national 
security and intelligence, was hit particularly hard.

Among the other Washington casualties, sources said, was CBS News 
correspondent Jeff Pegues, who was subjected to HR probes over his 
workplace behavior, including an alleged incident in which he dressed down 
a female colleague in a “20-minute rant.”

When the incident was investigated in 2021, insiders said, Ciprian-
Matthews — who insiders have accused of promoting minorities while 
unfairly sidelining white journalists — attempted to “blame” the female 
correspondent and eventually gave Pegues a promotion.

That’s despite prior allegations that Pegues had been “lashing out” and 
“bullying” younger female reporters who “outworked” him, a former CBS 
manager told The Post.

“She got rid of her enemies under the guise of budget cuts,” one source 
said of Ciprian-Matthews after Tuesday’s layoffs.

“She cleared the deck and she had to sacrifice some others like Pegues.”

The Post reached out to Ciprian-Matthews for comment.

Wendy McMahon, Ciprian-Matthews’ boss, had defended the executive over her 
handling of the HR probe involving Pegues.

“Any claims of discriminatory behavior are simply false,” McMahon, 
president and CEO of CBS News, Stations and CBS Media Ventures, told The 
Post at the time.

A source said CBS News, which employs just under 2,000 people, got hit 
with 20 job cuts altogether.

Also among those laid off on Tuesday was Christina Ruffini, a political 
correspondent who has been featured on “CBS Evening News with Norah 
O’Donnell,” “CBS Mornings” and “CBS Sunday Morning.”

Pamela Falk, CBS News correspondent for the United Nations based in New 
York, was also laid off, according to sources.

CBS News did not respond to requests seeking comment.

Herridge may soon be held in contempt of court for not divulging her 
source for an investigative piece she penned in 2017 when she worked for 
Fox News and be ordered to personally pay fines that could total as much 
as $5,000 a day.

A source close to the situation said Fox News is paying for Herridge’s 
legal counsel.

Herridge’s departure comes as the journalist faces heat for not complying 
with US District Judge Christopher Cooper’s order to reveal how she 
learned about a federal probe into a Chinese American scientist who 
operated a graduate program in Virginia.

The scientist, Yanping Chen, had been investigated for years on suspicions 
she may have lied on immigration forms related to work on a Chinese 
astronaut program, according to Herridge’s report.

Chen has since sued the government, saying details about the probe were 
leaked to damage her reputation.

She pushed the court to hold Herridge in contempt and make her personally 
pay daily fees, which could range from $500 to $5,000, rather than 
allowing CBS or Fox to do so.

Last August, the judge ruled that Chen’s need for the evidence “overcomes 
Herridge’s qualified First Amendment privilege.”

First Amendment advocates have pushed back, arguing that journalists can 
perform their public service function only if they are able to protect the 
identities of their confidential sources.

https://nypost.com/2024/02/13/media/bloodbath-at-cbs-news-includes-
reporter-fighting-first-amendment-case/


-- 
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that 
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem.  It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.  
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden 
fiasco, President Trump.  

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the 
The World According To Garp.  Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood 
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed 
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.