Ward and Yingst Cooperate, Colbert’s Ridiculous Suggestion | Winners & Losers in Today’s Green Room

It was a moment where journalistic rivalries were rendered totally inconsequential, and correspondents for competing networks came together in a staggering show of unity.

According to the Wall Street Journal, CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward and Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst worked together out of a Kyiv hotel suite — which was serving as a makeshift CNN newsroom — in the wake of an attack which killed Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski and local Ukrainian producer Oleksandra “Sasha” Kuvshynova, and also wounded Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall.

The Journal reports that Ward and Yingst were calling morgues, hospitals, and Ukrainian military officials in an effort to locate Zakrzewski and Kuvshynova, helping to relay information about their last known whereabouts. Eventually, Fox News’s security team got a tip that Zakrzewski and Kuvshynova’s remains had been identified.

Ward and Yingst have earned their reputations as experienced journalists reporting from a wide variety of war zones over the years. We’ve named them both our Media Winners of the Day on an individual basis multiple times before, and they’ve continued that stellar track record from the front lines in Ukraine.

This cross-network cooperation, obviously, goes far beyond just doing a good job as reporters, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t tip our hat in respect.

Late Show host Stephen Colbert mocked Fox News reporter Peter Doocy for asking President Joe Biden a “ridiculous question” at a recent press conference — and then followed that up with a truly ridiculous suggestion.

“Yesterday, President Biden held a press conference, and he was asked a ridiculous question by a ridiculous man: Fox News reporter and that one kid in high school who wears a suit to gym class, Peter Doocy,” Colbert said on Tuesday night.

In the clip from the press conference, Doocy asked Biden to clarify his previous remarks that a chemical weapon attack would “trigger a significant response,” and Biden refused to answer, telling Doocy, “Why would I tell you? You gotta be silly.”

Colbert then brought up Will Smith’s infamous slapping of Chris Rock at the Oscars Sunday night, joking that while he had previously said that slapping is “never ever the answer,” he was willing to make a “one-time exemption” for Biden, encouraging him to slap Doocy.

Doocy’s question was an entirely normal and appropriate query for a reporter to ask the president about a very serious topic. Biden might not have wanted to answer it, but it’s far from the pushiest question Doocy has lobbed at the White House, and certainly did not rise to the level of deserving a slap.

Colbert’s former colleague Jon Stewart used to try to duck criticism by saying he was just a comedy show. That’s no excuse for this sort of nonsense, attacking a reporter just doing his job.