Ex-CBS reporter rips network after Shari Redstone – Business News
Former CBS News investigative reporter Catherine Herridge referred to as out the network after a report revealed that Shari Redstone expressed issues that “60 Minutes” might have downplayed President Biden’s mental decline during a sitdown in 2023.
Herridge — who was fired final yr as half of a wider cost-cutting purge by father or mother company Paramount forward of its $8 billion merger with Skydance — slammed CBS News for its lack of “media transparency” after Redstone mentioned the Biden interview performed a half in her determination to settle with President Trump.
The daughter of the late media mogul Sumner Redstone drew wide-spread criticism for agreeing to pay Trump $16 million over his allegations that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited an interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to make her sound higher shortly earlier than November’s election.
Redstone, who offered Paramount to Skydance earlier this month, mentioned she felt CBS needed more steadiness to its reporting on points like Israel’s warfare towards Hamas. FilmMagic
Redstone, nonetheless, feared that going to trial might expose the network to a declare that “60 Minutes” hid the growing older Biden’s situation, she informed the New York Times on Tuesday.
Herridge has demanded that CBS release the uncooked video and transcripts of the interview by “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley.
“Last year, I called for more transparency. @60Minutes about its October 2023 interview with President Biden. Now we learn via @nytimes even the owner Shari Redstone had concerns,” the award-winning journalist wrote on X late Tuesday.
Herridge slammed her former employer for a lack of transparency after Shari Redstone informed The Times she was involved over “60 Minutes’” edit of its Biden sitdown. Getty Images
“Releasing the raw video and transcripts from the Biden interview would address the larger question of whether there is a pattern and practice @CBSNews of heavy-handed editing to make some politicians look better and other politicians look worse. In this case, did editing conceal President Biden’s cognitive decline?”
When contacted by The Post, Herridge added that “60 Minutes” ought to make the fabric public so as to garner the public’s trust within the storied outlet.
“If there’s no problem, making the material public would reinforce ’60 Minutes” place that their modifying meets the best requirements,” she mentioned, including that if this system refuses it says a lot. “My training is that with major newsmakers, the full transcript should always be released.”
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Herridge had beforehand informed The Post that CBS CEO George Cheeks gave her the inexperienced mild to prioritize balanced protection of the Hunter Biden laptop computer story on the behest of Redstone, however confronted roadblocks from her rapid bosses.
She reiterated that declare in her post on Tuesday.
“I was stunned by the obstruction and bias of some senior CBS News executives who resisted the balanced coverage Redstone had called for,” she wrote on Tuesday.
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Cheeks has been retained by the newly-formed Paramount Skydance Corp. as chief of its media and TV division.
Redstone walked away with round $2 billion after promoting her controlling stake in Paramount to Skydance.
She informed the Times that half of the rationale she wished to settle Trump’s $20 billion lawsuit was as a result of it might help deal with the network’s anti-Israel bias.
Redstone informed The Times that a CBS staffer who noticed the Biden interview mentioned he appeared “drowsy” and that there have been fears that the network cleaned up the edit to cowl up his cognitive decline. AP
Redstone additionally was anxious that Trump’s attorneys might “cherry-pick raw footage and internal communications” which might do main “damage to CBS News’s reputation,” in line with the Times.
Those fears have been additionally associated to the Biden interview, which one CBS staffer informed Redstone reportedly appeared to hide his decline. The particular person informed Redstone that Biden “seemed drowsy and had to be prodded to answer” Pelley’s questions, the Times reported.
“This case was never as black-and-white as people assumed,” Redstone informed the outlet.
Other CBS staffers who witnessed the interview and noticed the uncooked footage informed the Times that Redstone’s issues have been “overblown.”
A rep for CBS News declined to remark.
