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

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

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/


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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.