House Panel Probes CBS Over Alleged Seizure of Reporter’s Files

Catherine Herridge in a Sept. 16, 2015, file photo Alex Wong/Getty Images

The House Judiciary Committee is calling on CBS News to provide information about the termination of veteran reporter Catherine Herridge, who was investigating the Hunter Biden laptop incident, and the alleged subsequent seizure of her personal documents.

In a Feb. 23 letter that was sent to CBS News President Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs the committee, requested that the network disclose the identity of the individual at CBS or its parent company Paramount Global who “made the decision to terminate” Ms. Herridge.

The committee has stated that it is also interested in learning the reason that confidential files were “seized” as part of her termination.

“The unprecedented actions of CBS News threaten to chill good journalism and ultimately weaken our nation’s commitment to a free press,” the letter reads, after saying that the committee’s interest in the case is because the Committee is charged with “upholding and protecting fundamental civil liberties, including the First Amendment.”

Ms. Herridge was one of 20 staff members at CBS News who were terminated as part of a bigger purge of 800 employees at Paramount Global, despite being in the midst of a closely watched First Amendment dispute.

“Currently, Ms. Herridge is, and at the time of her termination was, engaged in a First Amendment-based legal dispute in which a federal judge threatened to hold her in contempt and levy significant fines if she did not divulge sources who gave her information about a federal investigation,” the letter reads.

Mr. Jordan also asked for a list of the people who had combed through Ms. Herridge’s files, as well as any documents and communications that were related to her records.

Additionally, the committee said it’s looking for information regarding any individual from Paramount Global, CBS, or CBS News who may have accessed the confidential materials and “reviewed any of her confidential materials, copied or retained any of her confidential materials, or conducted any forensic examination of her confidential materials.”

Ms. Ciprian-Matthews was asked to provide the information to the committee by March 1, “no later than 5 p.m.”

CBS News didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

Just before the committee announced its investigation into the matter, the broadcast journalists’ union issued a statement condemning CBS News’s alleged seizure of Ms. Herridge’s notes and research following her dismissal.

CBS News’s purported seizure of Ms. Herridge’s reporter notes, containing confidential source information, is “deeply concerning” and establishes a “dangerous precedent” that jeopardizes the fundamental tenets of the First Amendment, according to the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) 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 said in its statement following news reports of the employment change.

The union said in its Feb. 22 statement that, from the perspective of the First Amendment, a news media outlet calling a reporter’s research and confidential source reporting “proprietary information” is both “shocking and absurd.”

The union strongly demanded that CBS restore Ms. Herridge’s materials without delay, stating that it is a “serious break with traditional practices” for a former employer to hold on to a media professional’s reporting materials.

“We are encouraged by recent outreach by CBS News to SAG-AFTRA on this matter, and we are hopeful that it will be resolved shortly,” the union said in its statement.

Caden Pearson contributed to this report.