Appearing as a guest on ABC's The View on Monday, CNN Crossfire co-host S.E. Cupp – who is reportedly in talks to join the daytime talk show – told the hosts it was justified for CNN correspondent Diana Magnay and NBC correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin to be removed from reporting in the Gaza Strip after both expressed Anti-Israel bias. [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
After Cupp noted the social media comments made by Magnay and Mohyeldin, she observed: "Look, you're a reporter and your job, no matter how passionate you are about this issue, everyone has strong feelings, your job is to be objective." Co-host Jenny McCarthy asked: "So do you think it's okay for them to lose their job?" Cupp replied: "You know, discipline was necessary. Yeah, it was."
As MediaBistro's TVNewser blog pointed out, "in the case of Mohyeldin, NBC never publicly acknowledged disciplinary reasons as the catalyst for pulling the veteran foreign correspondent from Gaza (following widespread pushback, the network reversed its decision and sent Mohyeldin back to Gaza over the weekend)."
Magnay did not actually lose her job either, she was simply reassigned.
Here is a transcript of the July 21 exchange:
11:12 AM ET
(...)
S.E. CUPP: But even reporters get into problems when t
hey discuss this conflict. They realize objectivity is important, but not when it comes here. A couple of – we'll put some tweets up – Diana Magnay at CNN got in trouble for tweeting "scum" in relation to some Israelis on Twitter. And then Ayman Mohyeldin over at NBC got removed from his post for saying something that seemed to editorialize.
JENNY MCCARTHY: Do you, as a journalist, do you think that's fair?
CUPP: Well, look, you're a reporter and your job, no matter how passionate you are about this issue, everyone has strong feelings, your job is to be objective.
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: That's right.
MCCARTHY: So do you think it's okay for them to lose their job?
CUPP: You know, discipline was necessary. Yeah, it was.
(...)
