A former CNN correspondent is now suing the news network for unfair dismissal and racial and disability discrimination. Saima Mohsin's claims relate to an injury she sustained while reporting for CNN in Jerusalem in 2014. Mohsin's cameraman ran over her foot with a car, and according to her, the accident caused ongoing damage. The reporter has said that CNN did not "have [her] back" when it came to finding a new role for her that would accommodate her recovery.
Read on to find out what else Mohsin has claimed about CNN's alleged discrimination and why she decided to sue years after being let go.
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Mohsin's accident happened when she was on assignment in Jerusalem.
In 2014, Mohsin was reporting on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict from Jerusalem when the cameraman she was working with drove over her foot. As reported by The Guardian, the accident caused severe tissue damage that left Mohsin "struggling to sit, stand, and walk or return to work full-time."
Mohsin's bio on the official CNN website notes that she reported for the network from Islamabad, Pakistan and covered events including the Taliban attack of Malala Yousafzai.
She requested to be moved to a different role.
Kate Green/Getty Images for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures UKAs reported by The Guardian, Mohsin says that, after she sustained her injuries, she asked CNN for a different role and support for rehabilitation. She claims that the network refused. She also says that she asked if she could have an anchor job instead of working in the field to reduce her time traveling. In response, Mohsin claims she was told, "You don’t have the look we are looking for."
The journalist alleges that the network put white Americans on TV instead even at times when she was ready to go live from the location she was reporting from. The British journalist's contract with CNN ended in 2017.
Mohsin told The Guardian, "I worked hard to become an international correspondent and loved my job with CNN. I risked my life many times on assignment for CNN believing they would have my back. They did not."
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She says she spoke up for other foreign correspondents.
Mohsin also spoke to The Guardian about why she decided to move forward with her employment tribunal claim, which was filed in London.
"This should cause concern for all foreign correspondents who travel around the world—and take risks to do their journalism in the belief their employer will take care of them," the reporter said.
In her suit, Mohsin is accusing CNN of more than just not supporting her after her accident. "I’m also taking the opportunity to highlight the racism and gender pay gap issues that I experienced. I was repeatedly let down and denied the ability to achieve my potential while I was at CNN," she told the outlet. "I am bringing my claim to take a stand and call for change to ensure women journalists, and women journalists of color, are better protected."
She shared similar thoughts on Twitter. "I was injured on assignment for CNN," she wrote on July 10. "They fired me. We risk our lives in the field trusting we’ll be taken care of. I’m suing for unfair dismissal, disability & race discrimination. CNN wants my case thrown out."
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CNN claims she can't sue in London.
CNN declined to comment on the dispute to The Guardian, but the publication reports that "the broadcaster is opposing the claim on territorial grounds, arguing that the terms of Mohsin’s contract mean she does not have the right to bring a case in London."
Best Life has reached out to CNN for comment.
While Mohsin ceased to be employed by CNN six years ago, she has continued to work in journalism, now reporting for the UK's Sky News. In 2021, she made a special for another British network, ITV, titled Hidden Disabilities: What's the Truth? that included her opening up about her own injury. According to a synopsis of the special, "[Mohsin] is now registered disabled. But after treatment at an NHS Pain Clinic, she is back on the road, talking to others who, like her, suffer from hidden or invisible disabilities."
