It appears longtime Fox News host Shep Smith’s departure from the network was just the beginning.
Fox News’ chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge announced her departure from the network Thursday morning and will join CBS News as a senior investigative correspondent.
Two people with knowledge of Herridge’s departure told CNN Thursday that she was in talks to join CBS prior to Smith’s resignation earlier this month that came in the middle of a multi-year contract. Last week, CNN’s Jeff Zucker said that he’d consider hiring the “very talented” Smith as soon as his Fox News contract allows him.
Fox News host Sean Hannity tweeted Thursday morning that Herridge “will be missed.”
I want to send all my best wishes to Catherine Herridge—one of the best & hardest working investigative reporters in the country. There have been countless nights she would stay late to break news on Hannity. Catherine thank you so much, congratulations, but you will be missed.
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) October 31, 2019
A CBS News statement Thursday morning noted that Herridge is leaving Fox News after 23 years and is the second longtime Fox News journalist to leave the network this month following Smith’s departure. Herridge is slated to report original investigations and cover national security and intelligence matters for CBS News.
“CBS News has always placed a premium on enterprise journalism and powerful investigations,” Herridge said in the CBS News statement. “I feel privileged to join a team where facts and storytelling will always matter.”
In another statement released by Fox News Thursday morning and obtained by TPM, Herridge thanked Fox Corporation co-chairman Rupert Murdoch and echoed her “facts matter” sentiment.
“I am grateful to Mr. Murdoch for the opportunity to cover the most impactful stories of the last 23 years, most recently the Special Counsel report and impeachment inquiry,” Herridge wrote in the Fox News statement. “I have received great personal satisfaction from mentoring the next generation of reporters and producers and sharing my journalistic values — that facts matter and enterprise reporting will always win the day.”
Fox News’ opinion hosts have become increasingly subservient to President Trump over the years, setting up what seems to be a conflict between the commentators and the network’s hard news reporters. The Daily Beast reported at the time of Smith’s resignation that he had clashed with his primetime colleagues.
However, a source at Fox told TPM Herridge “had a good relationship with primetime” hosts at the network and appeared across variety of programming.
