When Fox News correspondent CB Cotton attempted to interview some of the anti-Israel protesters roaming the Columbia University campus in upper Manhattan, he was stopped and asked to speak to an unidentified “media team.” .
Cotton said she had been given permission by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism to film on campus, and asked protesters in vain for details of their demands.
Reporting on “The Ingraham Angle,” Cotton told guest host Pete Hegseth that he wanted to get live feedback from protesters, and approached some students in the crowd and asked them to give him a keffiyeh. I started talking to a young woman wearing a face mask.
Anti-Israel demonstrators heard shouting, “We’re all Hamas, we’re all pigs.”
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators demonstrate alongside New York City police lines outside the Columbia University campus on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in New York City. Several students were arrested as police cleared positions on the campus lawn. (Peter Garber, Fox News Digital)
As she began to ask a question, another student approached and interrupted her.
“If you want to talk to people, we have a media team,” said the student, also wearing a headscarf.
When Ms. Cotton replied that other broadcast journalists were also present, the student interrupted the interview and said he would direct her to the “media team” on the condition that the Fox News cameraman stop recording.
“Well, we just want to talk to you about your needs for the university,” Cotton said.
“Okay, yes, we have a news team,” the second student responded.
Iranian-American lawyer whose response to anti-Israel protests went viral predicts new world war
Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrate outside the Columbia University campus on Thursday, April 18, 2024, in New York City. Several students were arrested as police cleared positions on the campus lawn. (Peter Garber, Fox News Digital)
After Mr. Cotton suggested that Columbia School of Journalism had welcomed Fox News in what was called a “liberated zone,” students expressed surprise that the government would speak on behalf of protesting students.
“I’m totally going to have that conversation [Cotton] — With all due respect…” she continued, before another student said, “Let’s just step away.”
At that point, Cotton turned and addressed Hegseth.
”[T]They are very selective about who is allowed into this “liberated zone.” There are other cameras there now. We can see those cameras, but again, our cameras are not allowed in,” she said.
Hegseth noted that students covered their faces as the cameras approached.
Cotton later said students not participating in the protests felt the protests were a distraction from typical campus life. Students who participated in the demonstrations also recently pitched tents in an outdoor common area, but on Thursday they faced a backlash from law enforcement, who arrested about 100 demonstrators with the blessing of Colombian President Minouche Shafik. The New York Post reported.
According to a previous Fox News report, campus protesters should not be on campus, as New York Post columnist and part-time Columbia University student Ricky Schrott said on “Your World.” He was asked to show his ID to prove something.
Schrott said this is what differentiates the student protests from the more raucous protests happening in other parts of Morningside Heights.
Fox News reported that throughout Friday, protesters chanting that there should and will be more “October 7th” references to the Hamas massacre near a food cart on what appears to be Broadway in Morningside Heights. It aired clips from the protests, including videos of participants.israeli civilian in 2023.
