Catherine Herridge is a journalist who was a senior investigative correspondent for

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

in Washington D.C. from 2019 to 2024. She began at CBS after leaving her role as chief intelligence correspondent for

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City, U.S. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ow ...

, which she joined at its inception in 1996. Herridge was among twenty CBS News employees who were laid off during budget cuts in February 2024, along with

Jeff Glor Jeffrey Todd Glor (born July 12, 1975) is an American journalist who most recently was a co-host of '' CBS Saturday Morning ''from 2019 to 2024 and a CBS News special correspondent. He had also anchored the ''CBS Evening News'' from 2017 to 201 ...

, Jeff Pegues, Pamela Falk, and Christina Ruffini. She was born in Canada.

Early life and education

Herridge was born in Toronto, Ontario, and attended Jarvis Collegiate Institute for high school before moving to the US for college. She earned a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate education, undergraduate college of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Part of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Scienc ...

and a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in journalism from the

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism sch ...

Career

In Journalism

Initially a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-based correspondent for

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

, Herridge joined the

at its inception in 1996. Herridge also served as a field correspondent for the now-defunct Fox

newsmagazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio, or television program, usually published weekly, consisting of articles about current events. News magazines generally discuss stories in greater depth than newspapers or new ...

''The Pulse''. At Fox, Herridge regularly covered stories centered on

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

, including her campaign for Senate in 2000; she also produced notable coverage of the 2004 Democratic presidential primary, the D.C.-area sniper attacks, and the trial of

Zacarias Moussaoui Zacarias Moussaoui (, '; born 30 May 1968) is a French member of al-Qaeda who pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court to conspiring to kill citizens of the United States as part of the 9/11 attacks. He is serving life imprisonment without the ...

. Herridge was in New York on September 11, 2001, and reported for the network from locations in New York City. On October 31, 2019, Fox News announced Herridge would be leaving the network shortly after being awarded the Tex McCrary Award for Journalism from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society for her enterprise reporting at Fox News. She then joined

as a senior investigative correspondent later that year. Some CBS staffers and Democrats accused Herridge of promoting Republican talking points and conservative conspiracy theories. ''

Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. Founded in 2008, the website is owned by IAC Inc. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief ...

'' media reporter Maxwell Tani said Herridge at times got scoops with prominent Trump administration officials and asked "softball" questions, adding she was "considered a star in conservative media circles" but was "careful to never cross the line into overt advocacy." However, CNN anchor

Jake Tapper Jacob Paul Tapper (born March 12, 1969) is an American journalist. He is the lead Washington anchor for CNN, hosts the weekday television news show ''The Lead with Jake Tapper'', and co-hosts the Sunday morning public affairs program ''State of ...

and national security attorney Mark Zaid defended her work. In 2017, citing an anonymous source, Herridge reported on an FBI investigation of University of Management and Technology and its founder, Yanping Chen. Charges were never filed; Chen subsequently sued several government agencies, alleging that they had leaked information to Herridge in order to damage her reputation. Chen's lawyers issued a subpoena for Herridge to disclose the names of her sources; Herridge refused to do so, and in February 2024 was held in

contempt of court Contempt of court, often referred to simply as "contempt", is the crime of being disobedient to or disrespectful toward a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies the authority, justice, and dignity of the co ...

by the federal judge overseeing Chen's lawsuit. According to

Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press (RCFP) is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that provides pro bono legal services and resources to and on behalf of journalists. The organization pursues litigation, offers direct ...

, courts had ruled Herridge would be unable to appeal the order to testify until she had first been held in contempt for refusing. Herridge's appeal of the contempt order is currently still pending before the DC Circuit Court. Herridge was one of twenty CBS News employees

laid off A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...

on February 13, 2024, among 800 employees terminated by CBS parent

Paramount Global Paramount Global (Trade name, d/b/a Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and Headquarters, headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square, ...

. She had been probing the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. On Monday, February 26, 2024, CBS News returned confidential files belonging to Herridge amid mounting pressure from the House Judiciary Committee and

SAG-AFTRA The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists

, the union which represented her.

Author

In 2011, Herridge authored ''The Next Wave: On the Hunt for Al Qaeda's American Recruits''.

Personal life

On June 6, 2006, she donated a portion of her liver to her infant son, who was diagnosed with

biliary atresia Biliary atresia, also known as extrahepatic ductopenia and progressive obliterative cholangiopathy, is a childhood disease of the liver in which one or more bile ducts are abnormally narrow, blocked, or absent. It can be congenital or acquired. ...

References

External links

*
"X Account"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herridge, Catherine Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian expatriates in the United Kingdom Canadian television reporters and correspondents Canadian women television journalists American expatriates in the United Kingdom American television reporters and correspondents American women television journalists CBS News people Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Harvard College alumni Fox News people 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century Canadian women journalists 21st-century Canadian journalists