CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris Fired For Inappropriate Allegations
The sexual misconduct scandal continues to rock CBS News. The network has terminated one of its longtime employees, Steve Chaggaris after allegations of inappropriate behavior surfaced.
CBS Terminates Chaggaris
Chaggaris' former colleagues received an e-mail from the company on Jan. 3, stating that the organization cut ties with its political director.
"In the last two weeks, accounts of inappropriate behavior by Steve Chaggaris were brought to our attention and were immediately investigated. As a result, CBS News has severed ties with Chaggaris for violating company policy," said a CBS spokesperson.
CBS News did not reveal how many colleagues were affected by Chaggaris' behavior. The news organization also added that they have named neither an interim political director nor a successor.
Chaggaris' CBS History
Before CBS Television Network fired Chaggaris, the former political director worked for the news organization in 1999. Chaggaris worked in numerous positions for the news outlet. He helped cover countless news stories, which included covering former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's 2004 Presidential Campaign. He briefly left the network in 2010 before returning to CBS in 2012.
When he rejoined the network, Chaggaris became the news organization's senior political editor. Chaggaris oversaw the Obama Administration's second term in office and the highly contested 2016 Presidential Campaign between Donald Trump and former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
In March 2017, CBS promoted him to its political director. Chaggaris spent several months leading the CBS News team as they covered the first months of the Trump Administration.
Chaggaris Joins A Club
The former CBS News political director has joined a club of high-profile media professionals who were hit with sexual misconduct allegations. Chaggaris' former CBS colleague and CBS This Morning co-anchor Charlie Rose was terminated by the network after reports surfaced that numerous women accused the veteran journalist with multiple accounts of sexual misconduct.
Weeks after Rose's termination from CBS, former Today co-anchor Matt Lauer found himself out of the job after 20 years waking up America. An unknown NBC employee stepped forward and revealed that she was the subject of Lauer's sexual misconduct.
NBC terminated Lauer and it leads to several more women stepping forward with allegations. On Jan. 2, NBC announced that veteran journalist Hoda Kotb would replace Lauer as the show's anchor desk.
The Public Broadcasting Service also cut ties with journalist Tavis Smiley after reports of sexual misconduct were released. On Dec. 14, Smiley announced that he would fight the allegations. PBS has not named a successor to Smiley's program.
