Fired CBS News correspondent Catherine Herridge claims her former bosses blocked an exclusive interview she had snagged with Elon Musk in early 2023 — because they were afraid what the outspoken tech mogul might say.
In a video posted to X, Herridge revealed that she approached CBS execs with the opportunity to interview Musk, who had been in the news for his release of the Twitter files in late 2022 to a handful of tech and media journalists.
The reporters published the files, which shed light on how Twitter was secretly “blacklisting” conservative tweets and users, including its baseless decision to censor The Post’s bombshell Hunter Biden laptop scoop in the run-up to the 2020 election.
Musk, who bought Twitter and renamed it X in 2022, indicated to Herridge that he would sit down with her and do a live interview, which would be broadcast on X.
Herridge had been investigating the Hunter Biden laptop scandal for CBS at the behest of Shari Redstone, the media mogul whose Paramount empire controlled CBS News, and CBS CEO George Cheeks, the reporter also revealed on Tuesday, but noted previously that she had encountered roadblocks in her reporting.
“I went to the CBS executives and I said, ‘This is the opportunity that we have.’ He’s saying, ‘I want to do it live and on my platform,’ I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is an incredible opportunity,’” Herridge recounts in the video. “Elon Musk on CBS News! He’s one of the most influential human beings on the planet, and the reaction from the executives was, ‘Well, we can’t do it live.’”
Herridge was perplexed since it’s usually beneficial for an interview to be granted with no conditions over the content.
“‘I was like, ‘What do you mean we can’t do it live?,’” she asked, to which she said higher-ups said: “‘Well, we don’t know what he’s going to say.’”
Exasperated, Herridge tells viewers: “I’m thinking, ‘Isn’t that the point of journalism?’ You don’t know what the person’s going to say.”
A CBS spokesperson declined to comment.
CBS told Herridge that it wouldn’t do a live interview with Musk out of fear of what the outspoken mogul would say.
Herridge said CBS execs told the investigative journalist that the interview would have to be taped and edited. They also took issue with the fact that Musk wanted the interview on his platform.
Herridge said she discussed with her bosses a scenario in which the interview could be simulcast on X and CBS’ streaming service, so that they could both air it at the same time.
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“Everything got shot down,” the reporter recounted. “I felt so ashamed, frankly, that I never went back to Elon Musk.”
She explained that CBS had a long list of conditions for the interview, which she didn’t think Musk would accept.
“This is someone whose DNA is free speech and how do you tell someone who’s committed to free speech that your network can only do it taped and only if they edit it and it can only be on their platform? I couldn’t go back to him with that,” she said.
Earlier this month, the acclaimed investigative reporter revealed in her newsletter that she encountered roadblocks from then-CBS News president Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews and Washington, DC, bureau chief Mark Lima, and ultimately, her initial reporting in 2020 — which verified that the laptop was Biden’s and had not been tampered with — was killed by the network.
She advocated for her reporting on the matter and it was broadcast in November 2022, after the midterm elections.
Herridge, who now has a newsletter and filed exclusive investigative probes for X, was ousted earlier this year amid sweeping cuts at the network and parent company Paramount Global. CBS News seized Herridge’s reporting materials upon her termination.
Sources close to the situation claimed that the decision to hold on to her files was made by Ciprian-Matthews. The files were returned days later amid pressure from the union representing Herridge.
Earlier this year, The Post revealed that Ciprian-Matthews was accused of sidelining white journalists and blocking Herridge’s reporting on the Hunter Biden laptop.
The exec abruptly stepped down in August, and moved to the role of senior adviser for coverage of the 2024 presidential election before. She recently left the network.
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