A CBS Detroit spokesman says the station \u201cstrongly disagrees with the characterization of these events\u201d and plans to fully respond in court.<\/p>\n
A metro Detroit TV reporter is alleging that he was wrongly terminated from CBS Detroit due to discrimination in a lawsuit filed in federal court last week.<\/p>\n
Ibrahim Samra, a Palestinian-American who frequently covered Dearborn for the station, claims he was let go over his coverage of Michigan\u2019s Arab-American and Muslim communities following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel.<\/p>\n
His attorney, Amanda Ghannam, says it got to the point where the station wouldn\u2019t let him cover anything in Dearborn and Hamtramck.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey rejected his pitches for stories about local community members affected by the war, calling his coverage biased and one-sided even though it was literally his assigned job to cover those stories,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
At one point, Ghannam said, \u201cThey asked him if he supports Hamas, an offensive inflammatory and blatantly racist accusation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Samra says his dismissal unfairly stops his ability to amplify the stories of others.<\/p>\n
\u201cJournalists out there deserve a voice whether they\u2019re Palestinian, whether they\u2019re Black voices, white voices, everyone deserves a voice,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Samra added that CBS Detroit is enforcing his non-compete contract, so he\u2019ll have to leave the area if he wants to take another job.<\/p>\n
In a statement to WDET, a CBS Detroit spokesman says the station \u201cstrongly disagrees with the characterization of these events\u201d and plans to fully respond in court.<\/p>\n