Former CNN reporter Saima Mohsin claims unfair dismissal, discrimination
Former CNN correspondent Saima Mohsin has accused the cable news channel of wrongful dismissal after an injury sustained while on assignment in Israel.
“I was injured on assignment for CNN,” she tweeted Monday. “They fired me.”
Mohsin linked to a story in The Guardian stating she was hurt when a cameraman drove over her foot while she was covering the Israel-Palestine conflic.
“We risk our lives in the field trusting we’ll be taken care of,” she wrote. “I’m suing for unfair dismissal, disability & race discrimination.”
According to Mohsin, CNN declined to support her rehabilitation from severe tissue damage, which made performing her responsibilities difficult. When she asked that her foreign correspondent gig be reshaped to require less travel, the British-Pakistani journalist was reportedly told she didn’t “have the look” the network desired.
Three years later, Mohsin was no longer employed by CNN. She brought her case to a London employment tribunal that expected to review the matter Monday.
“CNN wants my case thrown out,” she tweeted.
CNN, which declined a Daily News Request for comment, argues terms of Mohsin’s contract prohibit her from seeking relief in London, according to The Guardian.
Mohsin became a presenter for Sky News in 2022. She’s also worked for the BBC. The South London native was with CNN from 2013 to 2017. She told the Guardian her claim against CNN is a “call for change to ensure women journalists, and women journalists of color, are better protected.”
The 43-year-old news outlet, headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., has lost two big bosses in 17 months.
Former president Jeff Zucker stepped down in Feb. 2022 following revelations he was involved in an undisclosed, but consensual relationship with a colleague.
CEO Chris Licht, left the network in June following a live Town Hall with former President Donald Trump, who predictably used the opportunity to amplify election fraud disinformation he’s been pushing for years. That event drew big ratings, but even bigger criticism followed by widespread calls for a boycott of the embattled station.
CNN has struggled to keep pace with the left-leaning cable outlet MSNBC and right-wing cable channel Fox News.
The station was also rocked by the unceremonious dismissals of primetime host Chris Cuomo at the end of 2021 and Don Lemon — a 17-year CNN veteran — in April.
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