CNN accuses Fox News of 'outrageous' lie over 'human shields' in Libya

Update: Fox News responds, attacks CNN reporter's sanity for calling out false report

A CNN reporter has refuted a claim by Fox News that television reporters were used as "human shields" in Libya, calling the allegation an "outrageous" falsehood.

Reacting to word that a caravan of about 40 journalists were touring a Libyan government facility, Fox News reporters Jennifer Griffin and Justin Fishel claimed the reporters were being used as "human shields" to curtail an expected attack on the Libyan leader. Journalists with CNN, Reuters and other established publications were along for the ride.

Appearing on CNN later in the day, reporter Nic Robertson explained what happened.

“Wolf, this allegation is outrageous and it’s absolutely hypocritical,” he told CNN host Wolf Blitzer. “When you come to somewhere like Libya, you expect lies and deceit from a dictatorship here. You don’t expect it from the other journalists.”

Their tour lasted approximately 30 minutes, he said, before the journalists were returned to their hotel.

Robertson added that Fox News did not send their normal correspondent to the facility, as they'd taken to calling the tour a "propaganda trip." Still, CNN's reporter said, they did send what the network later called "a security guard" to report on the scene.

The video below is from CNN, broadcast March 21, 2011.

This video is from Fox News' On the Record, broadcast March 21, 2011.

David Edwards contributed to this report.