How CBS News’ Hunter Biden reporting backfired on network’s ‘woke’ boss

The shocking downfall of CBS News’ “woke” boss last week was a “head on the line moment” for the Tiffany network, and a case of a divisive executive who had long seemed untouchable.

It’s a story I’ve heard time and time again about Ingrid Cyprian Matthews, who worked at CBS News for 30 years and was the company’s highest-ranking woman of color before abruptly stepping down as president last week after less than a year on the job.

The Dominican-born executive, who has weathered CBS’s storms for years, including the sexual misconduct scandals that ousted Charlie Rose and “60 Minutes” host Jeff Fager in 2018, once described him to me as a “Machiavellian.”

Some called her “political” or “charming.” Most agreed that she had built her own world of loyalists whom she promoted over the years, and a list of enemies whom she neutralized or drove from the company.

But last week, CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon announced that Cyprien Matthews would work as a temporary consultant for the remainder of the 2024 election and then leave the company.

As the shocking memo circulated early last Wednesday morning, my phone blew up with text messages from shocked insiders.

“What happened?” one person asked in disbelief.

The answer appears to be that Cyprian Matthews acted as if he was untouchable for longer than he actually was.

I’ve heard that some serious mistakes have been made in recent months that have led to her resignation.

No. 1 was Cyprian Matthews’ shoddy treatment of senior investigative reporter Catherine Herridge, who I’m told was personally asked by CBS executives to aggressively cover the Hunter Biden scandal more than two years ago.

According to multiple sources, this was a directive coming from the highest executive and ownership levels at CBS and its parent company, Paramount Global.

However, multiple sources say Herridge continues to face opposition from Cyprian Matthews and her allies, Washington D.C. Bureau Chief Mark Lima and Detective Director Matt Mosque.

More specifically, the people alleged that Cyprien Matthews was “dragging her feet” — a “classic Ingrid tactic” in which executives would beg instead of saying “no” to managers or people seeking promotions — and that she also failed to implement new cost-cutting directives from McMahon to use local correspondents when appropriate for reporting, the people said.

Mr. McMahon had tried to bolster Mr. Herridge by assigning two producers to the investigative department last fall to try to light a fire under Mr. Cyprien Matthews and Mr. Mosk, according to people familiar with the matter, but Mr. Herridge ultimately did not receive that help, the people said.

Herridge declined to comment on the report, but acknowledged to Tucker Carlson in an interview last Thursday on X that she had encountered roadblocks, which she said only grew as she looked toward the Biden administration.

CBS News strongly denied allegations that Cyprian Matthews interfered with Herridge’s reporting.

The spokesman noted that CBS News was the first to air an interview with an IRS whistleblower who alleges fraud in the investigation of the president’s son, as well as an exclusive interview with an IRS official in charge of the investigation.

“It is clear to everyone that CBS News’ aggressive reporting about Hunter Biden came specifically under the auspices of Editor-in-Chief Ingrid Ciprian Matthews,” the spokesperson said.

The award-winning correspondent was let go in February as part of 800 job cuts across Paramount Global, including, shockingly, 20 people cut from the news division, including Herridge.

The shock of his dismissal was compounded by police seizing personal files from Mr Herridge’s office.

Critics questioned why CBS kept Herridge’s file and no one else’s. Herridge’s union, SAG-AFTRA, protested.

The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee has also launched an investigation into the seizure of the files. Testifying before the committee in April, Herridge likened the fiasco to “the rape of a journalist.” Sources say the incident was an “embarrassment” for the company and sealed the fate of Cyprian Matthews.

Sources say the decision to keep the files wasn’t made by CBS CEO George Cheeks or McMahon, and it was they who were forced to negotiate with the union to get the files returned to Herridge.

A month before Mr Herridge was fired, I published an investigative story about Cyprian Matthews, who had been accused by employees of discriminatory hiring practices and favouritism.

We’re told Ms Herridge was one of the employees who complained, and although an investigation eventually found Cyprian Matthews to be a “bad manager”, she was still promoted twice, most recently to head of news.

Through a spokesman, Cyprian Matthews declined to comment on the allegations at the time.

All of this comes amid Cheeks’ push to increase diversity at the network.

About 20 sources I spoke to for a previous article said that while they supported diversity hiring, Cyprien Matthews had sidelined the careers of the network’s best young, white, female journalists in order to promote less-qualified minorities.

The recent announcement that Paramount was cutting its budget by $500 million gave CBS executives an excuse to fire Cyprian-Matthews.

And it gave McMahon, who was not only CEO but also shared the title of president of CBS News with Cyprian Matthews and was rumored to be unhappy with that, an opportunity to eliminate a rival.

Beyond Herridgegate, there was also the issue of Cyprian Matthews and his subordinates, Lima and Mosk, aka “Old CBS,” resisting the orders of McMahon’s number two, Adrienne Roark, who visited Washington last fall and told them the news operation was being “centralized.”

In practice, this will result in the news division relying on local CBS reporters to cover some events, rather than sending its own reporters, as a cost-saving measure.

But the trio continued to send national reporters to cover events despite the orders, sources said, which must have angered McMahon.

A CBS spokesman confirmed that Mr Rourke had met with senior staff but said there had been no opposition from Cyprian Matthews to the proposed plans.