Something very unusual recently happened at CBS News. Award-winning investigative journalist Catherine Herridge was fired earlier this month, ostensibly part of the network's downsizing effort to remain solvent.
But was there more to it? Herridge, a former Fox News investigative reporter, had been reporting on several scandals in the Biden administration, including the Hur report alleging Biden's mental incompetency, the Biden corruption scandal, and the Hunter Biden laptop.
Suspicions were raised about ulterior motives when Herridge's confidential files—including information on her confidential sources—were seized along with notes and other materials vital to an investigative reporter.
Jonathan Turley, a former CBS News and CNN legal analyst, called the action of seizing Herridge's confidential files "shocking."
For many of us who have worked in the media for decades, this action is nothing short of shocking. Journalists are generally allowed to leave with their files. Under the standard contract, including the one at CBS, journalists agree that they will make files available to the network if needed in future litigation. That presupposes that they will retain control of their files. Such files are crucial for reporters, who use past contacts and work in pursuing new stories with other outlets or who cap their careers with personal memoirs.
Turley points out that Herridge may have rubbed some CBS executives the wrong way. It's not uncommon for investigative journalists to step on the powerful toes of those who may be friends or acquaintances with CBS higher-ups. It's part of the incestuous relationship between news producers and newsmakers that makes the mainstream media generally useless.
Confidential sources have been the lifeblood of journalism for decades. Watergate's "Deep Throat," AKA FBI Associate Director Mark Felt, believed his life was in danger when he told Bob Woodward of the corruption in the Nixon White House. Even after Nixon left office, the reporters protected Felt's identity until he died in 2008.
CBS is suggesting that it will allow unnamed individuals to rifle through Herridge’s files to determine what will remain with the network and what will be returned to the reporter. That could fundamentally alter how reporters operate and how willing sources are to trust assurances that they will be protected.
In criminal cases involving privileged information, the government has an elaborate “filter team” system to wall off access to information under review. In the court system, judges use in camera and ex parte reviews to protect such information. Ironically, the media itself seems to take a more ad hoc approach. Indeed, CBS seems to have adopted a “Trust us, we’re the media” approach. However, that could expose these files to the access of unnamed lawyers, tech staff and others who are conducting this inventory and analysis.
Did CBS seize Herridge's files to keep the lid on something the Biden administration doesn't want out in the open? It's an intriguing hypothesis with no evidence whatsoever to support it. It's possible that internal office politics at CBS led to executives wanting to cover their rear ends and protect themselves from blowback on a story or two.
There's also the real worry that Herridge would take a juicy story to another network. Keeping her files would prevent much of that.
Catherine Herridge is going to land on her feet. She'll be hired by a network that appreciates her relentless desire to get to the bottom of stories. And the stories she was working on at CBS will eventually be published somewhere.
But there's a chill in the air at CBS that wasn't there before this incident went down.
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