The union representing CBS employees issued a strong condemnation of the company for seizing the notes and research of a fired employee.
SAG-AFTRA said in a statement Thursday that it “strongly condemns CBS News’ decision to seize Catherine Herridge’s reporter notes and research from her office, including confidential source information.”
Herridge, a veteran journalist who was formerly at Fox News, was among hundreds hundreds of CBS employees laid off last week by the parent company Paramount. But reports of Herridge being fired and that her materials, including personal notes, were seized by CBS sent shockwaves through the industry as the union called it out as “completely inappropriate'” and “very unusual.”
“This action is deeply concerning to the union because it sets a dangerous precedent for all media professionals and threatens the very foundation of the First Amendment,” the union said in its statement.
“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,” SAG-AFTRA continued, calling out the “shocking and absurd” move by CBS to refer to Herridge’s files as “proprietary information.”
Herridge has not made a public statement about the situation but shared the union statement online.
Important update via @sagaftra https://t.co/4LAYhnpil5
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) February 22, 2024
CBS pushed back against the claims about Herridge’s materials.
“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,” a CBS News spokesperson told Daily Mail.
“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,” the spokesperson said, adding that CBS was still “awaiting a response” from Herridge to be able to return her files.
Daily Mail reported:
Citing sources, the New York Post claimed that Herridge had been pursuing a story related to Hunter Biden’s abandoned laptop, and that she had ‘encountered roadblocks’ from management over her coverage of the First Son.
Herridge in November 2022 authenticated the laptop, which the Post had first reported on in October 2020.
Separately, Herridge has been in the middle of a high-profile court battle over her refusal to reveal sources for articles she wrote in 2017. A judge has demanded she reveal sources used in a series of articles about a Chinese American scientist who was investigated by the FBI but never charged with wrongdoing.
Former CBS legal analyst Jonathan Turley questioned the timing of it all.
“She was pursuing stories that were unwelcomed by the Biden White House and many Democratic powerhouses, including the Hur report on Joe Biden’s diminished mental capacity, the Biden corruption scandal and the Hunter Biden laptop,” Turley wrote in an opinion piece for The Hill.
He added that the company’s “heavy-handed approach” to the reporter’s materials ” was “dead wrong” and that it “sent a chilling signal in the ranks” of the network.
