mediabistro.com

CNN has halved the number of staffers in the Jerusalem bureau, from 8 to 4. An editor, producer, cameraman and desk editor were among those let go late last month.

“CNN has recently reviewed its worldwide operations, an exercise we do regularly to ensure operational and technological efficiency in everything we do,” a CNN spokesperson tells TVNewser. “As part of this exercise, we have reorganized the CNN bureau in Jerusalem.”

The website dreuz.info, which first reported the news, says the dismissals go “beyond good management.” “CNN has fired four Israeli Jewish journalists, and has retained only Arab journalists,” the site reports.”

CNN rejects this, saying “there are Israeli Jews working in CNN’s Jerusalem bureau.”

The spokesperson adds, “We strongly reject any suggestion that the reorganization in the Jerusalem bureau is in any way based on the small number of contract employees concerned being Israeli, particularly given CNN’s long history of working with locals in the region.”