Catherine Herridge, a Fox News Channel veteran who has been with that network since it was founded in 1996, is moving to rival CBS News.
She will work as a senior investigative correspondent out of Washington, CBS News said, and will start in November.
Herridge is the second long-serving Fox News journalist to leave the Fox Corporation-owned cable-news outlet in recent weeks. Shepard Smith, another long-serving Fox News journalist who was seen as the network’s main news anchor, surprised viewers earlier this month by announcing his departure on a Friday-afternoon broadcast. Smith had tangled on air with opinion host Tucker Carlson.
Herridge’s move is said to have been in the works for several weeks, and is not tied to Smith’s exit. Her contract with Fox News lapsed this summer, and the network had been negotiating to get her to stay, according to a person familiar with the matter. has not been known for jousting with the opinion programs. The opportunity to move to CBS News was seen as one she could not turn down, this person said.
Her departure may give a new boost to recent speculation that the network’s news-side employees have grown frustrated during a period when its opinion hosts have largely used their programs to lend support to President Donald Trump and his administration, sometimes criticizing news reports.
“CBS News has always placed a premium on enterprise journalism and powerful investigations,” said Herridge, in a statement. “I feel privileged to join a team where facts and storytelling will always matter.” Herridge’s national security reporting was recently recognized by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society with the “Tex” McCrary Award for excellence in journalism.
CBS News has hired journalists from Fox News in the past, including Washington correspondent Major Garrett.
In a subsequent statement provided by Fox News, Herridge said she was grateful to Fox Corporation executive chairman Rupert Murdoch for founding the network, and for the opportunity to work there. ” 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.”
The Fox News executive who oversees newsgathering had praise for Herridge. “As a founding employee, over the last 23 years, Catherine Herridge has been an asset to Fox News. From her breaking news headlines at the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to her reporting after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the investigation into Princess Diana’s death, she has always been at the forefront of every beat she has covered,” said Jay Wallace, president of Fox News Media. ” We are grateful for Catherine’s many contributions to the network, wish her continued success and were proud to honor her as she received the Tex McCrary Award for Journalism last week from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society for her enterprise reporting at Fox News.”
Herridge has gained a reputation for reporting from global hot spots on tough issues, particularly those pertaining to national security. She has filed from Afghanistan, Iraq, Qatar, Israel, Northern Ireland as well as the former Yugoslavia. She also served as a New York correspondent for the former newsmagazine program “Fox Files.”
Earlier this year, she interviewed President Trump after the Special Counsel ended its investigation.
Herridge began her career as a London-based correspondent for ABC News. She is a graduate of Harvard College and the Columbia School of Journalism where she sits on the alumni board. Herridge comes from a military family. Her husband, a West Point graduate, has served multiple overseas deployments since 9/11. They live in Washington, D.C. with their two sons.