CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl is leaving CBS amid what reports say was a feeling that the network’s news had gotten too liberal and that it lacked its longtime commitment to investigative reporting, The Politico reports.

If those indeed prove to be the reason — we’ll know when he book comes out on election day — it will be a sign of our times:

1. News has increasingly been marked by political polarization. Many correspondents (not all) will openly display their beliefs in reporting or commenting on stories, either in a comment that would have been unlikely 30 years ago or in a more direct statement. CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN have been fighting a battle with ideology or partisan-based newscasts.

2. Many news organizations have cut back on serious investigative reporting due to funding cutbacks and also the popularity of political horsebreak reporting and breaking news.

Attkisson, who has been with CBS News for two decades, had grown frustrated with what she saw as the network’s liberal bias, an outsize influence by the network’s corporate partners and a lack of dedication to investigative reporting, several sources said. She increasingly felt that her work was no longer supported and that it was a struggle to get her reporting on air.

But she had been seen by some as showing her own partisan preferences:

At the same time, Attkisson’s reporting on the Obama administration, which some staffers characterized as agenda-driven, had led network executives to doubt the impartiality of her reporting. She is currently at work on a book — tentatively titled “Stonewalled: One Reporter’s Fight for Truth in Obama’s Washington” — that addresses the challenges of reporting critically on the administration.

No matter how it’s perceived, she was unhappy:

Feeling increasingly stymied and marginalized at the network, Attkisson began talking to CBS News President David Rhodes as early as last April about getting out of her contract. Those negotiations intensified in recent weeks, and her request was finally honored on Monday.

Meanwhile, both sides offered quintessential corporatespeak statements:

Reached by phone, Attkisson described her resignation as “amicable.” She said she will now turn her attention to the book, which is being published by HarperCollins, a division of NewsCorp (and not by Simon & Schuster, a division of CBS Corp.).

Sonya McNair, senior vice president for communications for CBS News, said in a statement: “CBS News veteran Sharyl Attkisson is leaving the news division to pursue other endeavors. We appreciate her many contributions and we wish her well.”

If she’s happy about leaving, apparently some are at CBS as well:

But Attkisson had become a polarizing figure at the network, sources there said. While some championed her relentless dedication to investigations — ranging from defective Firestone tires to the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal — others saw evidence of a political agenda, particularly against President Barack Obama. (The bulk of Attkisson’s work since 2009 has focused on the failures or perceived failures of the Obama administration, including its failed green-energy investments and the attack in Benghazi, though she has reported on several Republican failures as well.)

PREDICTION: Her book will be a pre-published sell-out and she’ll get lots of time on Fox News and conservative talk shows.

Will she eventually wind up at You-know-what News? (Take your bets now..

JOE GANDELMAN, Editor-In-Chief

Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.

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