A former Metro Detroit TV reporter claims in a federal lawsuit that he was fired from CBS Detroit due to discrimination.
Ibrahim Samra is Palestinian American and would often cover issues in Dearborn — the largest Arab-majority city in the U.S. — which he said was a bonus to his employer.
That was before an October 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas that killed about 1,200 people in Israel.
After that, management’s opinion of Samra soured, according to his lawyer Amanda Ghannam
"They asked him if he supports Hamas — an offensive, inflammatory, and blatantly racist accusation,” Ghannam said.
Israel has responded to the Hamas attack by bombarding Gaza. International organizations estimate more than 30,000 people have died as a result of Israel's attacks.
Ghannam said Samra wanted to report on the impacts on local communities, but it got to the point where the station wouldn’t let him cover anything in Dearborn and Hamtramck.
“They 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," said Ghannam.
Samra said his dismissal unfairly stops his ability to amplify the stories of others. “Journalists out there deserve a voice, whether they're Palestinian, whether they're Black voices, white voices, everyone deserves a voice," he said.
Samra said CBS Detroit is enforcing his non-compete contract, so he’ll have to leave the area if he wants to take another job.
In a statement, CBS Detroit said the station “strongly disagrees with the characterization of these events” and plans to respond fully in court.
