South African journalist Debora Patta fired from CBS News

Veteran South African journalist Debora Patta has been dismissed from CBS News as part of a major round of layoffs affecting roughly 100 staffers across the network.

Patta, a foreign correspondent based in Johannesburg, had spent 12 years covering international stories for CBS and was known for reporting from conflict zones including Syria, Ukraine, and the Israel-Hamas war.

Sources indicate Patta’s termination followed a last-minute change by CBS’s new editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, in which it is alleged that Weiss removed a male correspondent from the layoff list and added Patta’s name just hours before cuts were finalised.

The 61-year old's sacking has also coincided with the clolosure of CBS’s offices in Johannesburg, where Patta was based.

The latest in a string of retrenchments has affected more than 500 workers, among the journalists and technical producers, and comes months after she conducted an August 7 interview with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

However, Huckabee defended himself against these allegations and later accused CBS of editing the interview in a way that misrepresented his views on Gaza.

Following the interview, Huckabee is said to have gone to social media platform X where revealed that CBS News intentionally manipulated the four-minute segment to produce a narrative that diverged from his actual comments, insisting that his comments on reports of starvation in Gaza were misrepresented.

"Ever wonder how the media edits an interview to give you a different story than the one they had?" he wrote.

Meanwhile, varying media reports say Huckabee, in an attempt to clarify his position, linked the full transcript of the interview hosted on the US embassy's website, saying his critical points were omitted from the final broadcast to create a certain narrative.

Before joining CBS, Patta built a distinguished career in South Africa, working at Radio 702 and leading the investigative program 3rd Degree on etv, earning herself a reputation as “fearless and fair.

Meanwhile, commentators say her sacking highlights ongoing questions about newsroom restructuring, editorial independence, and the impact of global media dynamics on local reporting.

The termination of Patta's contract comes just weeks after she recently signed a three-year contract.

Unconfirmed reports have indicated that the veteran reporter is considering legal action against the international broadcaster

Patta, a foreign correspondent based in Johannesburg, had spent 12 years covering international stories for CBS and was known for reporting from conflict zones including Syria, Ukraine, and the Israel-Hamas war.

Before then, the revered reporter had , built a distinguished career in South Africa, working at Radio 702 and leading the investigative program 3rd Degree on etv.