(LibertySociety.com) – Paramount Global announced it was doing away with 800 jobs on February 13. The news came as a shock after the company raked in millions of viewers on Super Bowl Sunday. CNBC reported that the company had 24,500 employees in 2022, pointing out that the cuts would decrease its workforce by three percent. Paramount Global President and CEO Bob Bakish wrote in a message to employees that the reduction would help “build on our momentum” and “execute our strategic vision” over the next year.
CBS will reportedly lose 20 employees, including Catherine Herridge, who has worked as a senior correspondent for the outlet since 2019. Herridge has earned multiple accolades during her career, including an Emmy Award and the Tex McCrary Award for Journalism. Herridge is known for her investigative journalism involving national security issues, often reporting on topics that most mainstream news shows ignore. Herridge is currently involved in a lawsuit after being ordered by a judge to disclose her sources for several stories she reported while working at Fox News. The plaintiff in the case subpoenaed Herridge to sit for a deposition, where she again declined to reveal her sources. Fox News defended her position, arguing that journalists should not have to reveal confidential sources.
According to the New York Post, Herridge was not in good standing with CBS News President Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews. Jeff Pegues, who also works out of the Washington office, was among those cut. The outlet claimed that Pegues was the subject of an internal investigation for his behavior toward female reporters. One source told the outlet that Ciprian-Matthews did away with the people she no longer wished to employ by disguising their termination as merely a part of cutting the company’s budget.
Political correspondent Christina Ruffini, along with New York-based Pamela Falk, also lost their jobs at CBS. Rumors of a possible sale or merger are also in the works, according to the Los Angeles Times.
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