CNN removed correspondent Diana Magnay after she called Israelis “scum” in a tweet (since removed).
She was in Sderot, on a hill overlooking Gaza, watching Israeli airstrikes in the distance. Off camera, a crowd of Israelis watching the night-time action were cheering, which Magnay described.
But Magnay got into trouble for posting a tweet calling the Israelis scum. (Screengrab’s from Russia Today).
The tweet was quickly removed, but the damage was done. CNN reassigned her to Moscow, a city not known for press freedom or Mediterranean weather; Magnay’s Twitter account has gone silent for the time being.
So what the heck was Magnay thinking?
A CNN spokesperon told Michael Calderone:
“After being threatened and harassed before and during a liveshot, Diana reacted angrily on Twitter,” a CNN spokeswoman said in a statement to The Huffington Post.
“She deeply regrets the language used, which was aimed directly at those who had been targeting our crew,” the spokeswoman continued. “She certainly meant no offense to anyone beyond that group, and she and CNN apologize for any offense that may have been taken.”
“Threatened and harrassed during a liveshot?” If Magnay and her team were threatened or intimidated by the Israelis, she should have mentioned that in her report as a routine matter of transparency.
Perhaps Magnay thought for professional reasons she had to play the macho journalist who couldn’t be ruffled by trash talking arm-chair general Israelis on live TV so close to real war zone. If the threat was serious enough to claim on Twitter, it was serious enough to mention on air.
Without the “scum.” That wasn’t professional. Here’s Magnay’s last dispatch from Israel.
