CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
(Cable News Network), an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
basic cable
Cable television first became available in the United States in 1948. By 1989, 53 million U.S. households received cable television subscriptions, with 60 percent of all U.S. households doing so in 1992. with Data by SNL Kagan shows that about 58 ...
and
satellite television
Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...
channel, has been the subject of multiple controversies. This article recounts controversies and allegations relating to both the domestic version of CNN, and its sister channels
CNN International
CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inter ...
and
CNN-News18
CNN-News18 (originally CNN-IBN) is an Indian English-language news television channel founded by Raghav Bahl based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is currently co-owned by Network18 Group and Warner Bros. Discovery. CNN provides internationa ...
.
Allegations of bias
CNN has often been the subject of allegations of
party
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...
bias
Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individual, a group, ...
. ''The New York Times'' has described its development of a partisan lean during the tenure of Jeff Zucker. In research conducted by the
Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy
The Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy is a Harvard Kennedy School research center that explores the intersection and impact of media, politics and public policy in theory and practice.
Among other activities, the center or ...
at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
and the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the authors found disparate treatment by CNN of
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
and Democratic candidates during the earliest five months of the
presidential primaries
The presidential primary elections and caucuses held in the various states, the District of Columbia, and territories of the United States form part of the nominating process of candidates for United States presidential elections. The United S ...
in 2007: "The CNN programming studied tended to cast a negative light on Republican candidates—by a margin of three-to-one. Four-in-ten stories (41%) were clearly negative while just 14% were positive and 46% were neutral. The network provided negative coverage of all three main candidates with McCain fairing the worst (63% negative) and Romney fairing a little better than the others only because a majority of his coverage was neutral. It's not that Democrats, other than
Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
, fared well on CNN either. Nearly half of the Illinois Senator's stories were positive (46%), vs. just 8% that were negative. But both
Clinton
Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...
and
Edwards Edwards may refer to:
People
* Edwards (surname)
* Edwards family, a prominent family from Chile
* Edwards Barham (1937-2014), a former member of the Louisiana State Senate
* Edwards Pierrepont (1817–1892), an American attorney, jurist, and ora ...
ended up with more negative than positive coverage overall. So while coverage for Democrats overall was a bit more positive than negative, that was almost all due to extremely favorable coverage for Obama." In a ''New York Observer'' column entitled "Clinton News Network", political journalist
Steve Kornacki
Stephan Joseph Kornacki (born August 22, 1979) is an American political journalist, writer, and television presenter. Kornacki is a national political correspondent for NBC News. He has written articles for ''Salon'', ''The New York Observer'', ...
Pew Research Center
The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan American think tank (referring to itself as a "fact tank") based in Washington, D.C.
It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the w ...
Poll showed that Democrats were much more likely than Republicans to rate the network favorably, while Republicans were much more likely than Democrats to see CNN unfavorably. A 2019 Pew Research survey showed that among Americans who named CNN as their main source for political and election news, 79% identify as Democrats whereas 17% identify as Republicans. Among major broadcast news networks, the CNN audience displays higher levels of partisanship than
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
,
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
and
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
, but lower than
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
and
MSNBC
MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...
.
Octavia Nasr firing
In 2011, Chief
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
correspondent
Octavia Nasr
Octavia Nasr ( ar, اوكتافيا نصر) (born 13 March 1966) is a Lebanese-American Rhetoric scholar anauthorwhosresearchfocuses on Yoga's identity and ethical code and how they apply to journalism and other fields. She is a certified yoga i ...
was fired after a tweet saying she was "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayed
Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah
Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah (also Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadl-Allāh; ar, محمد حسين فضل الله; 16 November 1935 – 4 July 2010) was a prominent twelver Shia cleric from a Lebanese family. Born in Najaf, Iraq, ...
... One of
Hezbollah
Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...
's giants I respect da lot." Parisa Khosravi, senior vice president of
CNN International
CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inter ...
, said she spoke with Nasr, and "we have decided that she will be leaving the company". Her reason for her removal was given as "As you know, her tweet over the weekend created a wide reaction. As she has stated in her blog on CNN.com, she fully accepts that she should not have made such a simplistic comment without any context whatsoever. However, at this point, we believe that her credibility in her position as senior editor for Middle Eastern affairs has been compromised going forward."
Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk (12 July 194630 October 2020) was a writer and journalist who held British and Irish citizenship. He was critical of United States foreign policy in the Middle East, and the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians. His stanc ...
criticized CNN for the firing, saying, "Poor old CNN goes on getting more cowardly by the hour. That's why no one cares about it any more".
Coverage of the 2016 U.S. presidential election
Occupy CNN protest
On April 3, 2016, hundreds of supporters of
Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
protested outside of CNN's
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
bureau on
Sunset Boulevard
Sunset Boulevard is a boulevard in the central and western part of Los Angeles, California, that stretches from the Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades east to Figueroa Street in Downtown Los Angeles. It is a major thoroughfare in t ...
. Sanders supporters were protesting
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
's coverage of the
2016 United States presidential election
The 2016 United States presidential election was the 58th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. The Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana governor Mike Pence defeated the Democratic ticket ...
s, specifically in regards to the lack of airtime Sanders had received. Known as Occupy CNN, protesters claimed that major media networks have intentionally blacked out Sanders'
presidential campaign
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
in favor of giving much more airtime to candidates such as Hillary Clinton.
Donna Brazile and Roland Martin
In October 2016,
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...
published
emails
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
from
John Podesta
John David Podesta Jr. (born January 8, 1949) is an American political consultant who has served as Senior Advisor to President Joe Biden for clean energy innovation and implementation since September 2022. Podesta previously served as White ...
which showed CNN contributor
Donna Brazile
Donna Lease Brazile (; born December 15, 1959) is an American political strategist, campaign manager and political analyst who served twice as acting Chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). She is currently an ABC News contributor, ...
passing the questions for a CNN-sponsored debate to the Clinton campaign. In the email, Brazile discussed her concern about Clinton's ability to field a question regarding the death penalty. The following day Clinton would receive the question about the death penalty, verbatim, from an audience member at the CNN-hosted Town Hall event. According to a
CNNMoney
CNN Business (formerly CNN Money) is a financial news and information website, operated by CNN. The website was originally formed as a joint venture between CNN.com and Time Warner's ''Fortune'' and ''Money'' magazines. Since the spin-off of Time ...
investigation, debate moderator and CNN contributor Roland Martin (now with TV One) "did not deny sharing information with Brazile". CNN severed ties with Brazile on October 14, 2016.
WikiLeaks emails
During live coverage of the 2016 elections, CNN anchor
Chris Cuomo
Christopher Cuomo ( ; born August 9, 1970) is a television journalist anchor at NewsNation, based in New York City. He has previously been the ABC News chief law and justice correspondent and the co-anchor for ABC's ''20/20'', news anchor for ...
said that downloading the hacked and stolen
Podesta emails
In March 2016, the personal Gmail account of John Podesta, a former White House chief of staff and chair of Hillary Clinton's 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, was compromised in a data breach accomplished via a spear-phishing attack, and some ...
from the
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international Nonprofit organization, non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous Source (journalism), sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activism, Internet acti ...
website was a violation of law and that only the media could legally do so. The statement was proven to be false. The statement drew criticism to the network.
Coverage of the 2020 U.S. presidential election
CNN Iowa debate moderation
Following the
2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
Presidential primaries and caucuses were organized by the Democratic Party to select the 3,979 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention held on August 17–20 to determine the party's nominee for president in the 2020 Unit ...
debate moderated by CNN and the ''
Des Moines Register
''The Des Moines Register'' is the daily morning newspaper of Des Moines, Iowa.
History Early period
The first newspaper in Des Moines was the ''Iowa Star''. In July 1849, Barlow Granger began the paper in an abandoned log cabin by the junction ...
'' on January 14, 2020, CNN was accused by various media pundits of bias towards centrist candidates. The debate moderation by CNN was described by ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''s
Matt Taibbi
Matthew Colin Taibbi (; born March 2, 1970) is an American author, journalist, and podcaster. He has reported on finance, media, politics, and sports. A former contributing editor for ''Rolling Stone'', he is an author of several books, co-host o ...
as "villainous and shameful", and Zach Carter at ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...
'' said the debate moderation was "awful", with Carter writing, "Again and again, CNN anchors substituted centrist talking points for questions―and then followed up predictable responses with further centrist talking points, rarely illuminating any substantive disagreements between the candidates or problems with their policy positions".
Jeet Heer
Jeet Heer is a Canadian author, comics critic, literary critic and journalist. He is a national affairs correspondent for ''The Nation'' magazine and a former staff writer at ''The New Republic''. As of 2014, he was writing a doctoral thesis at Yor ...
, the national affairs correspondent at ''
The Nation
''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...
'' said "the big loser of the night was the network that hosted the event. CNN was so consistently aligned against Bernie Sanders that it compromised its claim to journalistic neutrality."
A CNN article published shortly before the debate, which reported that
Bernie Sanders
Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...
allegedly told
Elizabeth Warren
Elizabeth Ann Warren ( née Herring; born June 22, 1949) is an American politician and former law professor who is the senior United States senator from Massachusetts, serving since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and regarded as a ...
in private during a 2018 meeting that a woman can't win a presidential election, was criticized for being viewed as a hit piece intended to depict Sanders as a
misogynist
Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practiced fo ...
prior to the debate and for being anonymously sourced. During the debate itself, the article was subject of a series of questions between the candidates.
Trump administration coverage
On January 10, 2017, CNN reported on the existence of classified documents that said Russia had compromising personal and financial information about then
President-elect
An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Unit ...
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
. CNN did not publish the
Steele dossier
The Steele dossier, also known as the Trump–Russia dossier, is a controversial political opposition research report written from June to December 2016, containing allegations of misconduct, conspiracy, and cooperation between Donald Trump ...
, or any specific details of the dossier. Later that day, ''
BuzzFeed News
''BuzzFeed News'' is an American news website published by BuzzFeed. It has published a number of high-profile scoops, including the Steele dossier, for which it was heavily criticized, and the FinCEN Files. Since its establishment in 2011, it ...
'' published the entire 35-page dossier with a disclaimer that it was unverified and "includes some clear errors". The dossier had been read widely by political and media figures in Washington, and had been sent to multiple other journalists who had declined to publish it as it was unsubstantiated. At a press conference the following day, Trump referred to CNN as "
fake news
Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in reality ...
" and refused to take a question from CNN reporter
Jim Acosta
Abilio James Acosta (born April 17, 1971) is an American broadcast journalist, anchor and the chief domestic correspondent for CNN. Previously, Acosta served as the network's chief White House correspondent during the Trump administration, in w ...
.
On February 24, 2017, CNN and other media organizations such as ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' were blocked from a White House
press gaggle A press gaggle (as distinct from a press conference or press briefing) is an informal briefing by the White House Press Secretary which (as used by press secretaries for the George W. Bush administration) is on the record, but disallows videograp ...
. The network responded in a statement: "Apparently this is how they retaliate when you report facts they don't like. We'll keep reporting regardless."
On June 26, 2017, three network investigative journalists; Thomas Frank,
Eric Lichtblau
Eric Lichtblau (born 1965) is an American journalist, reporting for ''The New York Times'' in the Washington bureau, as well as the ''Los Angeles Times'', ''Time'' magazine, ''The New Yorker'', and the CNN network's investigative news unit. He ha ...
, and Lex Haris, resigned from CNN over a false story, later retracted, that connected
Anthony Scaramucci
Anthony Scaramucci ( ; born January 6, 1964) is an American financier who briefly served as the White House Communications Director, White House Director of Communications from July 21 to July 31, 2017.
Scaramucci worked at Goldman Sachs's inv ...
to a $10 billion Russian investment fund. The network apologized to Scaramucci and stated that the online story did not meet their editorial standards.
In June 2017, the network also imposed new rules on Russia–related stories being published to social, video, editorial, or MoneyStream without going through the chain of command within CNN.
''The Washington Post'' again fact-checked a CNN report regarding Trump on December 8, 2017: CNN ran a story that claimed two sources told the network that the Trump campaign received an email that gave Trump and his son
Donald Trump Jr.
Donald John Trump Jr. (born December 31, 1977) is an American political activist, businessman, author, and former television presenter. He is the eldest child of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and his firs ...
early access to WikiLeaks documents on September 4, 2016. CNN, however, had not obtained the supposed September 4 email. The sender was "Michael J. Erickson", who CNN was not able to contact. ''The Washington Post'', however, did obtain the email, which showed that the email was actually sent on the day after the hacked documents were released by WikiLeaks on September 14, 2016. CNN issued a correction of their story.
In January 2020,
Don Lemon
Don Lemon (born March 1, 1966) is an American television journalist most well known for being a host on CNN. Lemon anchored weekend news programs on local television stations in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a journalist. He ...
had a panel discussion on his show with Republican strategist Rick Wilson and ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' columnist Wajahat Ali, both of whom have spoken out against Trump. Lemon began laughing after Wilson joked, "Trump couldn't find Ukraine on a map if you had the letter 'U' and a picture of an actual physical crane next to it" and called Trump supporters "the credulous
boomer
Baby boomers, often shortened to boomers, are the Western demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is often defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the mid-20th century baby boom. The ...
rube demo." Lemon continued to laugh as the two guests mocked Trump supporters using a southern accent saying things like "you elitists with your geography and your maps and your spelling" and "Your math and your readin'." After Trump responded by calling Lemon "the dumbest man on television," Lemon defended himself saying "During an interview on Saturday night, one of my guests said something that made me laugh. And while in the moment I found that joke humorous, I didn't catch everything that was said. Just to make this perfectly clear, I was laughing at the joke and not at any group of people."
Coverage on international incidents
Persian Gulf War
During the
Persian Gulf War
The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...
in 1990–1991, CNN was criticized for glorifying U.S military action and excessively pushing
human interest stories
In journalism, a human-interest story is a feature story that discusses people or pets in an emotional way. It presents people and their problems, concerns, or achievements in a way that brings about interest, sympathy or motivation in the reader ...
about American soldiers while avoiding depictions of violent images, the result being an alleged "propagandistic" presentation of the war. A report by
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) is a progressive left-leaning media critique organization based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1986 by Jeff Cohen and Martin A. Lee. FAIR monitors American news media for bias, inaccura ...
(FAIR) quotes an unnamed CNN reporter as describing "the 'sweet beautiful sight' of bombers taking off from
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
" in a 1991 news report. CNN was criticized for having a
Lockheed Martin
The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
consultant speak about the war, which was seen as a conflict of interest.
Operation Tailwind
In 1998, CNN, in partnership with sister ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine, ran a report that during the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
the
U.S. Armed Forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
used
sarin gas
Sarin (NATO designation GB G-series, "B"">Nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for Nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic synthetic organophosphorus compound.North Vietnamese soldiers during
Operation Tailwind
Operation Tailwind was a covert incursion by a small unit of United States Army and allied Montagnard forces into southeastern Laos during the Vietnam War, conducted from 11 to 14 September 1970. Its purpose was to create a diversion for a Roya ...
in 1970 in
Laos
Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...
.
The Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...
denied the story. Skeptics deemed it improbable that such an extraordinary and risky
atrocity
Atrocity or ''Atrocities'' or ''Atrocious'' may refer to:
* Atrocity (band), a German metal band
* ''Atrocities'' (album), the fourth album by Christian Death
* Mass atrocity crimes, international crimes of genocide, war crimes, and crimes agains ...
could have gone unnoticed at the height of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
's unpopularity. CNN, after a two-week inquiry, issued a retraction. The story's producers were summarily fired, and one of them has been highly critical of CNN's handling of the story, saying that the network bowed to pressure from high-ranking officials to kill the story.
Suppression of Bahraini protests, and reporting of Iran and Syria
In October 2011, correspondent
Amber Lyon
Amber Elizabeth Lyon (born November 9, 1982) is an American investigative journalist and photographer. She is known for her work reporting human rights abuses against pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain and police brutality against protesters in ...
met with
Tony Maddox
Tony Maddox is a British journalist. He was executive vice president and managing director of CNN International from 2003 until May 2019.
He previously worked at the BBC for 13 years as a reporter, news producer and news editor.
In 2015 he w ...
, president of CNN International, twice about a documentary on advances of democracy in the Middle East in which she was featured, and which was aired in the US but never by CNN International—the most watched English news channel in the Middle East—despite a high production cost, international acclaim and awards. She claimed that during the second meeting she was threatened and intimated to stop speaking on the matter. According to a CNN employee, officials from the Bahrain regime called CNN constantly complaining about Lyon's participation in the network. She was later laid-off.
Coverage of Margaret Thatcher's death
CNN was criticized for using a photograph of former
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister advises the sovereign on the exercise of much of the royal prerogative, chairs the Cabinet and selects its ministers. As modern pr ...
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
with disgraced
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
presenter
Jimmy Savile
Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality who hosted BBC shows including ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. During his lifetime, he was well known ...
four times during coverage of her death on April 8, 2013. Allegations of sexual abuse against Savile were made public in 2012, a year after his death, leading UK police to believe that Savile may have been one of Britain's most prolific
sex offenders
A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crime ...
. An image of Thatcher with Chilean dictator
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
was also run during the broadcast, leading some commentators to accuse CNN of bias.
Coverage of Iranian protests
In 2014, the network was criticized for an unusual absence of live coverage of a large set of protests that followed the 2014 elections in Iran.
Conflict with Venezuelan government
On February 8, 2017, a joint
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
and
CNN en Español
CNN en Español is a Pan-American Spanish-language news channel, owned by CNN Global, a news division for Warner Bros. Discovery. It was launched on pay television, on 17 March 1997.
History CNN en Español before 1997
In 1988, CNN began produc ...
investigation – based on the information provided by a
whistleblower
A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...
exiled in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and subsequent investigations, reported that employees of the Venezuelan Embassy in
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
,
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
has been selling
passports
A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...
and visas to persons from Middle Eastern countries with dubious backgrounds for profits, including to members of the Lebanese group
Hezbollah
Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...
. The Venezuelan immigration department,
SAIME
SAIME (formerly ONIDEX) is a Venezuelan government institution, traditionally in charge of Civil registry services. The name derives from the Spanish acronym for Servicio Administrativo de Identificación, Migración y Extranjería (Administrativ ...
, confirmed the sold passports' genuineness as each passport came with an assigned
national identification number
A national identification number, national identity number, or national insurance number or JMBG/EMBG is used by the governments of many countries as a means of tracking their citizens, permanent residents, and temporary residents for the purp ...
, although the names of these individuals were altered when checking against the national database. At least one individual's place of birth was also changed from
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
to
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
. The Venezuelan foreign minister, Delcy Rodriguez, denied the government's involvement when questioned by the reporters during the
Seventy-first session of the United Nations General Assembly
The Seventy-first Session of the United Nations General Assembly opened on 13 September 2016. The President of the United Nations General Assembly is from the Asia-Pacific Group.
Organisation for the session
Fijian Ambassador Peter Thomson w ...
, and accused the network of performing what she described as an "
imperialistic
Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power (economic
...
media operation" against
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
for airing the year-long fraud investigation. On February 14, 2017, Venezuelan authorities banned
CNN en Español
CNN en Español is a Pan-American Spanish-language news channel, owned by CNN Global, a news division for Warner Bros. Discovery. It was launched on pay television, on 17 March 1997.
History CNN en Español before 1997
In 1988, CNN began produc ...
from broadcasting two days after the Venezuelan president,
Nicolas Maduro
Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to:
People Given name
* Nicolas (given name)
Mononym
* Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer
* Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer
Surname Nicolas
* Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–1774), ...
, ordered CNN to " etwell away from here".
After the decision,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
responded by providing a live-streaming service on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
and
CNN en Español
CNN en Español is a Pan-American Spanish-language news channel, owned by CNN Global, a news division for Warner Bros. Discovery. It was launched on pay television, on 17 March 1997.
History CNN en Español before 1997
In 1988, CNN began produc ...
's website free of charge for Venezuelan viewers. The English-language
CNN International
CNN International (CNNI, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel that is owned by CNN Global. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates with sister network CNN's national and inter ...
channel is still being broadcast in
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
,
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. There were initial reports from the media saying that all 31 men and eight women inside the truck were Chinese illegal immigrants being smuggled into the UK. On the October 25, 2019
Chinese Foreign Ministry
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China () is the first-ranked executive department of the State Council of the Chinese government, responsible for the foreign relations of the People's Republic of China. It is led ...
's daily press conference, the Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman
Hua Chunying
Hua Chunying (; born 24 April 1970) is a Chinese official and former diplomat serving as spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China since 2012 and as the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2021. H ...
stated that " e British police are working against the clock to verify the victims, but currently they are not able to confirm their nationalities." In a follow up question, CNN reporter
David Culver
David Michael Culver, (December 5, 1924 – February 6, 2017) was a Canadians, Canadian businessman and former Chairman and CEO of Alcan, Alcan Aluminum Limited, from 1979 to 1989.
Early life
Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Culver attended Selwyn Ho ...
linked the incident with the
70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China
The 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China () was observed with a series of ceremonial events including a grand military parade as its spotlight to celebrate National Day of the People's Republic of China that took ...
celebrated earlier by asking "there have been many successes, advances and progress of the past 70 years with the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, utfrom an outside perspective, what would then motivate people from China to want to leave in such a risky way?" A similar CNN commentary was also published earlier questioning "Why would people from China, the world's second-biggest economy, risk their lives to enter the UK?" Hua claimed the question was inappropriate, repeated that the nationalities of the victims were still under verification, retorting: "What kind of answer did you hope to get from that?". She said the CNN reporter's presumption of linking the identity of those victims with the PRC's 70th anniversary reflected the "wrongful mindset" of the Western media. Hua also emphasized that the current pressing issue was to step up international cooperation in countering human trafficking, and find ways to avoid similar tragedies from happening again. In the report of CNN, this question was described only "about the possibility of Chinese citizens being illegally trafficked" and "was rebuffed by the spokesperson".
The video clip of the press conference was immediately widely publicized and circulated on Chinese websites and social media, with many Chinese being angered by CNN's question and praising Hua's "appropriate" reply.
Hu Xijin
Hu Xijin (; born 7 April 1960) is a Chinese journalist and the former editor-in-chief and party secretary of the conservative popular media ''Global Times'', a tabloid under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s official ''People ...
, editor of the Chinese newspaper ''
Global Times
The ''Global Times'' () is a daily tabloid newspaper under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party's flagship newspaper, the ''People's Daily'', commenting on international issues from a Chinese ultra-nationalistic perspective. The publi ...
'' and an influential news commentator on the social media, said on his
Weibo Weibo may refer to:
* Microblogging in China, or China-based microblogging services (), including:
** NetEase Weibo (), launched by NetEase
** People's Weibo (), launched by ''People's Daily''
** Phoenix Weibo (), launched by Phoenix Television
** W ...
that the CNN reporter was "brought into a ditch" by the Chinese public intellectuals who "seemed to collude with each other". Hu said he wanted to remind those reporters they "should not just look at those few dissidents who hold different opinions and shouting on the Internet. Reach more to the general public in
Chinese society
Chinese culture () is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago. The culture prevails across a large geographical region in East Asia and is extremely diverse and varying, with customs and traditions varying grea ...
. Don't just listen to opinions pleasing to yourselves." Later as the police confirmed that all victims were from
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
, the ''
People's Daily
The ''People's Daily'' () is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The newspaper provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP. In addition to its main Chinese-language ...
'' also published an online commentary criticising CNN for "violat ngthe ethics of news reporting", and "show ngits intention to tarnish China's image without acquiring solid facts and final results from British police."
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
In February 2022, while covering air-raid sirens over the city of
Kyiv
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...
during the invasion, CNN came under fire for playing an
Applebee's
Applebee's Restaurants LLC. is an American company that develops, franchises, and operates the Applebee's Neighborhood Grill + Bar restaurant chain. The Applebee's concept focuses on casual dining, with mainstream American dishes such as salads ...
commercial featuring the upbeat song
Chicken Fried
"Chicken Fried" is a song by American country music group Zac Brown Band, which frontman Zac Brown co-wrote with Wyatt Durrette. The song was first recorded in 2003 for the 2005 album ''Home Grown''. A second version was then released in 2006 by ...
in a split-screen commercial break with the war coverage. Following the incident, Applebee's pulled its advertising from CNN.
2022 Nong Bua Lamphu massacre
One of the two
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
reporters reporting the crime was seen leaving the crime scene by climbing over the low wall and fence around the compound, and over the police tape. The reporters were fined and had to leave the country as they had been working under tourists visas. Police investigations determined that they were let in by a personnel who had no authority over such matters. CNN's video report of the crime scene was later pulled from their website. The
Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand
The Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) was founded in the 1957 in Bangkok's Patpong area. It is considered the oldest and largest press club in Southeast Asia. After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam were m ...
criticized the action as "unethical" and "insensitive" while the reporters and CNN apologised over the reporting.
Individuals
Executives
Resignation of Eason Jordan
In February 2005,
Eason Jordan
Eason Jordan is the CEO of Oryx Strategies, a New York-based strategic planning and communications company he founded in December 2017.
He previously helped launch and leaCNN blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
gers wrote that, at the recent
World Economic Forum
The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...
, Jordan had seemed to accuse the U.S. military of having purposely killed journalists. While Jordan acknowledged his remarks were not sufficiently clear, he denied that this was what he had meant to imply, saying that he had "great admiration and respect for the men and women of the U.S. armed forces".
Jeff Zucker
CNN was criticized for its coverage of the
Boston Marathon bombing
The Boston Marathon bombing was a domestic terrorist attack that took place during the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. Two terrorists, brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, planted two homemade pressure cooker bombs, w ...
, after erroneously reporting that a "dark-skinned male" had been arrested in connection with the attack. In the aftermath of the broadcast,
Jeff Zucker
Jeffrey Adam Zucker (born April 9, 1965) is an American former media executive. Between January 2013 and February 2022, Zucker was the president of CNN Worldwide. Zucker oversaw CNN, CNN International, HLN, and CNN Digital. He was previously C ...
– who became president of CNN in 2013 – lauded the coverage, claiming that "CNN shined this week", and boasted ratings success that CNN achieved during the coverage, adding that "viewers respected the network's accountability when it admitted its mistakes". Comedian Jon Stewart criticized Zucker's comments after calling CNN's coverage of the
Washington Navy Yard shooting
The Washington Navy Yard shooting occurred on September 16, 2013, when 34-year-old Aaron Alexis fatally shot 12 people and injured three others in a mass shooting at the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) inside the Washingto ...
"breathless wrongness", claiming that, "The lesson they take from this is – it doesn't matter how much they betray our trust. We'll keep coming back."
In 2017, Vox described CNN as "treat ngpolitics like a sport" and stated that CNN under Jeff Zucker heavily uses debates to manufacture drama.
Zucker resigned from CNN on February 2, 2022, after previously failing to disclose a romantic relationship with CNN executive
Allison Gollust
Allison Gollust is an American media executive. She worked as an executive vice president and the chief marketing officer of CNN Worldwide until February 2022. Gollust was director of communications for Andrew Cuomo from October 2012 to March 2013 ...
during an internal review into the conduct of former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo. Gollust also resigned upon the conclusion of the review later that month, after parent company
WarnerMedia
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
released a memo stating that she was one of three top figures that had "violated its official journalism standards and practices".
Brooke Baldwin
Brooke Baldwin (born July 12, 1979) is an American journalist, television host and author who was at CNN from 2008 until 2021. Baldwin hosted ''CNN Newsroom with Brooke Baldwin'', which aired from 3pm to 4pm ET on weekdays.
Early life and educ ...
suggested that veterans were responsible for the unrest, saying soldiers who become police officers "are coming back from war, they don't know the communities, and they're ready to do battle". Baldwin initially pushed back critics, claiming she was just repeating something a city official had told her. She later apologized via
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and on-air.
Jack Cafferty
On the April 9, 2008 broadcast of CNN's ''The Situation Room'', asked to comment on the United States' relationship with China, Cafferty responded: "I think they're basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they've been for the last 50 years". The Legal Immigrant Association started an online petition calling for a formal apology, indicating that Cafferty's rant was
anti-Chinese
Anti-Chinese sentiment, also known as Sinophobia, is a fear or dislike of China, Chinese people or Chinese culture. It often targets Chinese minorities living outside of China and involves immigration, development of national identity in ...
and had the effect of exacerbating negative attitudes held by Americans toward Chinese and
Chinese American
Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...
s. On the April 14, 2008 broadcast of CNN's ''Situation Room'', Jack Cafferty clarified his remarks: "Last week, during a discussion of the controversy surrounding China's hosting of the
Olympic Games
The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...
, I said that the Chinese are basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they have been for the last 50 years. I was referring to the
Chinese government
The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, mili ...
, and not to Chinese people or to
Chinese American
Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from ...
s." CNN issued a controversial apology on April 14, to "anyone who has interpreted the comments to be causing offense." Not satisfied with CNN's response, several thousand demonstrators picketed CNN's
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
and
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
offices and demanded that CNN remove him from the network.
A protest was held on April 26, 2008 in front of CNN headquarters in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
.
On the same day, a few thousand Chinese and Chinese Americans protested in front of a CNN office in San Francisco.
On May 15, 2008, according to
Chinese Foreign Ministry
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China () is the first-ranked executive department of the State Council of the Chinese government, responsible for the foreign relations of the People's Republic of China. It is led ...
spokesman
Qin Gang
Qin Gang (; born 19 March 1966) is a Chinese diplomat and politician who has been serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2022, making him China's second highest ranked diplomat after CCP Politburo member Wang Yi. He previously served as Vi ...
, CNN President
Jim Walton
James Carr Walton (born June 7, 1948) is an American businessman, currently the heir to the fortune of Walmart, the world's largest retailer. As of October 2022, Walton was the seventeenth-richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$61 b ...
Chinese ambassador to the United States
The Chinese Ambassador to the United States is the official representative from the People's Republic of China to the United States of America.
List of representatives
This is a list of diplomatic representatives from China to the United Stat ...
: "On behalf of CNN I'd like to apologize to the Chinese people for that. CNN has the highest respect for Chinese people around the world and we have no doubt that there was genuine offense felt by them over the Jack Cafferty commentary." CNN, however, denies that an apology to the Chinese government was ever made, stating that it was meant for the Chinese people alone.
Carol Costello
On October 22, 2014, ''
CNN Newsroom
''CNN Newsroom'' (also simply known as ''Newsroom'') is an American news programming block that airs on CNN.
Broadcasting for 43 hours each week, ''Newsroom'' features live and taped news reports, in addition to analysis from experts on the issu ...
'' host
Carol Costello
Carol Costello (born October 11, 1961) is an American television anchor and former host of '' CNN Newsroom''. In 2017, she left CNN to join sister network HLN, based in Los Angeles. In October 2018, HLN announced that Costello would be let go, ...
reported on the audio release of
Bristol Palin
Bristol Sheeran Marie Palin (born October 18, 1990) is an American public speaker, reality television personality, and real estate agent. She is the oldest daughter and second of five children of Todd and Sarah Palin.
Palin competed in the fal ...
being assaulted by a man at a get-together in
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
. Costello laughed and called it "quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we've ever come across". She was instantly criticized for making fun of a woman who was being physically abused by a man she did not know, as well as for being a hypocrite after recently calling for
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
to suspend
Stephen A. Smith
Stephen Anthony Smith (born ) is an American sports television personality, sports radio host, and sports journalist. He is a commentator on ESPN's ''First Take'', where he appears with Molly Qerim. He also makes frequent appearances as an N ...
after comments he made about women during the
Ray Rice
Raymell Mourice Rice (born January 22, 1987) is a former American football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for six seasons with the Baltimore Ravens. He played college football at Rutgers, where he received first-t ...
controversy. Costello eventually apologized in a statement to ''
Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'', stating: "Over the past few days, I have been roundly criticized for joking about a brawl involving the Palin family. In retrospect, I deserve such criticism and would like to apologize."
Chris Cuomo
On November 30, 2021, broadcaster
Chris Cuomo
Christopher Cuomo ( ; born August 9, 1970) is a television journalist anchor at NewsNation, based in New York City. He has previously been the ABC News chief law and justice correspondent and the co-anchor for ABC's ''20/20'', news anchor for ...
was suspended indefinitely after the
New York Attorney General
The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York and head of the Department of Law of the state government. The office has been in existence in some form since 1626, under the Dutch colonial government of ...
released new documents showing that he had helped his brother
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
battle sexual harassment allegations. CNN said in a statement that "these documents point to a greater level of involvement in his brother's efforts than we previously knew." Four days later, CNN fired Cuomo after hiring a law firm to conduct a review of the matter.
Don Lemon
In a June 2015 episode of ''
WTF with Marc Maron
''WTF with Marc Maron'' is a weekly podcast and radio show hosted by stand-up comedian Marc Maron. The show was launched in September 2009. The show is produced by Maron's former Air America co-worker Brendan McDonald.
Background
The show's ti ...
'', then-
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
used the racial slur "
nigger
In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...
" while discussing
racism in the United States
Racism in the United States comprises negative attitudes and views on race or ethnicity which are related to each other, are held by various people and groups in the United States, and have been reflected in discriminatory laws, practices and ...
, particularly in the wake of the then-recent
Charleston church shooting
On June 17, 2015, a mass shooting occurred in Charleston, South Carolina, in which nine African Americans were killed during a Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Among those people who were killed was the senior past ...
in
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
Don Lemon
Don Lemon (born March 1, 1966) is an American television journalist most well known for being a host on CNN. Lemon anchored weekend news programs on local television stations in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a journalist. He ...
, in an apparent attempt to spark debate on the topic, held up the
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
battle flag, and rhetorically asked the audience if they were offended; he then did the same with a large sign, with the aforementioned slur printed on it in large letters. Lemon's actions received widespread mockery on social media, and spawned a meme wherein the content of the sign was edited to display various phrases or images, alongside a chyron that read "Does This Offend You?"
On the February 16, 2023 broadcast of ''
CNN This Morning
''CNN This Morning'' is an American morning show that airs on CNN, CNN International and HLN that premiered on November 1, 2022. Hosted by Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow, and Kaitlan Collins on weekdays, the program succeeded '' New Day'' as CNN's morn ...
'', Lemon made disparaging remarks about
Nikki Haley
Nimrata Nikki Haley (née Randhawa; born January 20, 1972) is an American diplomat and politician who served as the 116th and first female governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, and as the 29th United States ambassador to the United Na ...
, who had announced her 2024 presidential campaign two days earlier. Lemon claimed that Haley, who was 51 years old at the time, "isn't in her prime", adding that " woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s. If you Google ‘when is a woman in her prime,’ it’ll say 20s, 30s and 40s." When co-host
Poppy Harlow
Poppy Harlow (born Katharine Julia Harlow; May 2, 1982) is an American journalist, best known for her reporting at CNN and Forbes.com. She is an anchor of CNN This Morning and is based at CNN's New York news bureau. She was previously co-anchor of ...
challenged his statements, Lemon told her to "look it up." Amid a public outcry, Lemon
tweeted
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
that afternoon that his comments were "inartful and irrelevant, as colleagues and loved ones have pointed out, and I regret it." He was absent from the February 17 broadcast, and called into a CNN staff meeting that day to apologize for his comments. CNN chairman and CEO
Chris Licht
Christopher Andrew Licht (born October 22, 1971) is an American television newsman and producer. Since May 2022, he has been the chairman and CEO of CNN. He is best known as the showrunner and executive producer of ''The Late Show With Stephen Co ...
stated during the same meeting that he was "disappointed" by Lemon's comments, describing them as "upsetting, unacceptable and unfair to his co-hosts, and ultimately a huge distraction to the great work of this organization." In a February 17 interview with
Fox News
The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
, Haley dismissed Lemon's comments, saying they were "something that I have faced all of my life," and attributed them to her status as "a minority, conservative, female". On February 19, 2023, ''
The Daily Beast
''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008.
It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'' reported that Lemon would again be absent from ''CNN This Morning'' the following day, February 20; a source told the site that there were "ongoing conversations about Don's future," and that Lemon was "a constant distraction."
Fredricka Whitfield
Fredricka Whitfield (born May 31, 1965) is an American journalist and news anchor. She anchors the weekend edition of ''CNN Newsroom'' from CNN's world headquarters in Atlanta, and she is also a fill-in and substitute anchor for CNN's At This Hou ...
referred to the gunman, James Boulware, as "courageous and brave, if not crazy". The comment received immediate backlash and calls for her to apologize. The next day, Whitfield stated on air that she misspoke and in no way believed the gunman was courageous or brave. After the backlash continued, she issued another on-air apology on June 15, saying she terribly misused those words, now understood how offensive it was and was sincerely sorry.
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
was not born in the United States. His willingness to raise the "
birther
During Barack Obama's campaign for president in 2008, throughout his presidency and afterwards, there was extensive news coverage of Obama's religious preference, birthplace, and of the individuals questioning his religious belief and citi ...
" issue repeatedly even though CNN itself considered it a "discredited rumor", led ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
''s TV critic to remark that this "explains their upcoming documentary: 'The World: Flat. We Report – You Decide.'" The issue had come up in 2008 during the Presidential campaign, and had largely disappeared from the media spotlight until Dobbs picked up the issue again. His statements in support of these conspiracy theories were dubbed "racist" and "
defamatory
Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...
" by the
Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white su ...
. The controversy led to
Media Matters
Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a politically left-leaning 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization and media watchdog group. MMfA was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media Res ...
airing ads critical of Dobbs and of CNN, and to
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...
mocking Dobbs on the satirical
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
television series
A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...
''
The Daily Show
''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form from ...
''. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' said that Dobbs had "become a publicity nightmare for CNN, embarrassed his boss and hosted a show that seemed to contradict the network's 'no bias' brand."
Reza Aslan
After the
2017 London Bridge attack
On 3 June 2017, a terrorist vehicle-ramming and stabbing took place in London, England. A van was deliberately driven into pedestrians on London Bridge, and then crashed on Borough High Street, just south of the River Thames. The van's three occ ...
, CNN host
Reza Aslan
Reza Aslan ( fa, رضا اصلان, ; born May 3, 1972) is an Iranian-American scholar of sociology of religion, writer, and television host. A convert to evangelical Christianity from Shia Islam as a youth, Aslan eventually reverted to Islam b ...
took to Twitter to call then-
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Donald Trump "a piece of shit" and a "man baby" for his response to the attack. In response to his remarks, CNN announced on June 9 that they had severed ties with Aslan and said they would not move forward with season two of the ''Believer'' series.Stelter, Brian CNN cancels Reza Aslan's show "Believer" after profane anti-Trump tweets ,
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...
, June 9, 2017. Aslan said of the cancellation, "I am not a journalist. I am a social commentator and scholar. And so, I agree with CNN that it is best that we part ways."
Other
Semiautomatic weapons
CNN apologized for a May 15, 2003 story in which CNN's John Zarella and
Broward County, Florida
Broward County ( , ) is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's second-most populous county after Miami-Dade County and the 17th-most populous in the United States, with over 1.94 m ...
Sheriff
Ken Jenne
Kenneth C. Jenne II (born December 1, 1946) is a former Democratic Party (United States), Democratic member of the Florida legislature, Florida State Senate and a former sheriff of Broward County, which encompasses Fort Lauderdale. He resigned a ...
Federal Assault Weapons Ban
The Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act, popularly known as the Federal Assault Weapons Ban (AWB), was a subsection of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a United States federal law which include ...
, due to expire the following year. The Assault Weapons Ban was concerned solely with
semiautomatic firearm
A semi-automatic firearm, also called a self-loading or autoloading firearm (fully automatic and selective fire firearms are also variations on self-loading firearms), is a repeating firearm whose action mechanism ''automatically'' loads a followi ...
s, not fully automatic ones, which had already been restricted by the
National Firearms Act
The National Firearms Act (NFA), 73rd Congress, Sess. 2, ch. 757, was enacted on June 26, 1934, and currently codified and amended as . The law is an Act of Congress in the United States that, in general, imposes an excise tax on the manufact ...
of 1934, and the subsequent 1986
Firearm Owners Protection Act
The Firearm Owners' Protection Act (FOPA) of 1986 is a United States federal law that revised many provisions of the Gun Control Act of 1968.
Federal firearms law reform
Under the Gun Control Act of 1968, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and F ...
.
Jon Stewart's ''Crossfire'' appearance
Comedian
Jon Stewart
Jon Stewart (born Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz; November 28, 1962) is an American comedian, political commentator, and television host. He hosted ''The Daily Show'', a satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 1999 to 2015 and now hosts ''Th ...
appeared on ''
Crossfire
A crossfire (also known as interlocking fire) is a military term for the siting of weapons (often automatic weapons such as assault rifles or sub-machine guns) so that their arcs of fire overlap. This tactic came to prominence in World War I.
...
'' on October 15, 2004, and criticized its format and the style of arguments presented on the show. He called hosts
Tucker Carlson
Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson (born May 16, 1969) is an American television host, conservative political commentator and writer who has hosted the nightly political talk show ''Tucker Carlson Tonight'' on Fox News since 2016.
Carlson began h ...
and
Paul Begala
Paul Edward Begala (born May 12, 1961) is an American political consultant and political commentator, best known as the former advisor to President Bill Clinton.
Begala was a chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton–Gore campaign, which carried ...
"partisan hacks", and asked them to "stop hurting America". Begala argued that the purpose of the show was that it was intended as for debate, to which Stewart responded "To do a debate would be great. But that's like saying
pro wrestling
Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...
is a show about athletic competition" and called Carlson's signature bow-tie an example of "theater". At one point Carlson told Stewart "I think you're more fun on your show", Stewart replied by saying: "You know what's interesting though? You're as big a dick on your show as you are on any show." Carlson later told Stewart that, "You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think", to which Stewart quipped, "You need to go to one".
Carlson departed CNN in January 2005; the network cancelled ''Crossfire'' at that same time. CNN president Jonathan Klein stated that, "I agree wholeheartedly with Jon Stewart's overall premise." Carlson said that he had resigned from CNN before Stewart's appearance claiming: "I resigned from ''Crossfire'' in April, many months before Jon Stewart came on our show, because I didn't like the partisanship, and I thought in some ways it was kind of a pointless conversation... each side coming out, you know, aises fists'Here's my argument', and no one listening to anyone else. NNwas a frustrating place to work." Begala remained with CNN after ''Crossfire''s cancellation.
Steubenville High School rape case coverage
Candy Crowley
Candy Alt Crowley (born December 26, 1948) is an American news anchor who was employed as CNN's chief political correspondent, specializing in American national and state elections. She was based in CNN's Washington, D.C. bureau and was the anch ...
,
Poppy Harlow
Poppy Harlow (born Katharine Julia Harlow; May 2, 1982) is an American journalist, best known for her reporting at CNN and Forbes.com. She is an anchor of CNN This Morning and is based at CNN's New York news bureau. She was previously co-anchor of ...
and Paul Callan were criticized for being sympathetic towards the two convicted rapists in the
Steubenville High School
Steubenville High School is a public high school in Steubenville, Ohio, United States. It is the only secondary school in the Steubenville City School District.
Athletics
The school offers baseball, basketball, football, golf, soccer, softball, ...
rape case and for placing very little focus on the victim on March 17, 2013. During the course of the delinquent verdict, Harlow stated that it was "Incredibly difficult, even for an outsider like me, to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believed their lives fell apart...when that sentence came down, a'likcollapsed in the arms of his attorney... He said to him, 'My life is over. No one is going to want me now.'" An online petition garnered over 200,000 signatures protesting the coverage and demanding an apology.
Coverage of the Cleveland kidnapping victims
On the morning of May 7, 2013, CNN interrupted coverage of the Jodi Arias murder trial with an update of the release of three young women from
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
who were kidnapped by Ariel Castro between 2002 and 2004. CNN correspondent
Ashleigh Banfield
Ashleigh Dennistoun Banfield (born December 29, 1967) is a Canadian-American journalist and host of ''Banfield'' on the NewsNation network. She is a former host of ''Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield'' and ''Early Start'' on CNN.
Education
...
appeared to interview HLN host
Nancy Grace
Nancy Ann Grace (born October 23, 1959) is an American legal commentator and television journalist. She hosted ''Nancy Grace'', a nightly celebrity news and current affairs show on HLN, from 2005 to 2016, and Court TV's ''Closing Arguments' ...
from a remote location, and it appeared that both were filming from parking lots. The channel graphics later alerted viewers that both reporters were in
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
,
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
. The same cars were noticeable driving behind the two anchors, first behind Banfield and then by Grace. It became obvious that Grace and Banfield were, in fact, sitting in the same parking lot, pretending to be in remote locations when both were actually approximately 30 feet from each other.
#CNNBlackmail controversy
On July 2, 2017, then-President Donald Trump posted a video on
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
owner
Vince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American media proprietor and retired professional wrestling promoter, executive, and performer. From 1982 to 2022, he served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WWE, the w ...
on the ground during
WrestleMania 23
WrestleMania 23 was the 23rd annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand divisions. The event ...
. The clip had been edited to place a CNN logo over McMahon's face. Two days later, CNN published a story entitled, "How CNN found the Reddit user behind the Trump wrestling GIF", which labeled
Reddit
Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...
user "HanAssholeSolo" as the creator of the viral video. In the article, political reporter
Andrew Kaczynski
Andrew Kaczynski (born November 30, 1989) is an American journalist and a political reporter for CNN. He became well known in 2011 by posting old video clips of politicians, often of them making statements contrary to their current political pos ...
explained the process that allowed the organization to discover the identity of the user.
After the publication of the article, the user posted an apology to CNN, including apologies for previous Reddit postings that could be taken as well as containing
racist
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...
anti-Semitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
language and imagery on the Reddit group
/r/The_Donald
r/The_Donald was a subreddit where participants created discussions and Internet memes in support of former U.S. president Donald Trump. Initially created in June 2015 following the announcement of Trump's presidential campaign, the communit ...
. Immediately afterwards, his apology was locked and deleted by the subreddit's moderators while the user deleted his Reddit account. After confirming the identity of the Reddit user, HanAssholeSolo expressed his unwillingness for his name to be released to the public. In response, CNN stated that they would not reveal his name, as he was " private citizen who has issued an extensive statement of apology, showed his remorse by saying he has taken down all his offending posts, and because he said he is not going to repeat this ugly behavior on social media again. In addition, he said his statement could serve as an example to others not to do the same. CNN reserves the right to publish his identity should any of that change."
Prominent
right-wing
Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...
users on social media subsequently accused CNN of
blackmailing
Blackmail is an act of coercion using the threat of revealing or publicizing either substantially true or false information about a person or people unless certain demands are met. It is often damaging information, and it may be revealed to fa ...
the user, using a hashtag, #CNNBlackmail, that was heavily promoted by
Julian Assange
Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks came to international attention in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by U.S. Army inte ...
, as well as various right-wing and conservative online activists and conspiracy theorists. Kaczynski responded by stating that CNN's statement was "misinterpreted", and that the user said that he was not threatened prior to his apology. Meanwhile, Madison Malone Kircher of ''
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
'' magazine opined that CNN could have avoided the
internet vigilantism
Internet vigilantism is the act of carrying out vigilante activities through the Internet. The term encompasses vigilantism against alleged scams, crimes, and non-Internet related behavior.
The expanding scope of media savvy and online interactio ...
if the network had simply published his identity, as is common in similar situations, criticizing their decision to "protect" the user.
CNN's decision to withhold the user's name was also criticized by William Grueskin, a professor at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. Grueskin argued that the user was neither an abuse victim nor a confidential witness nor a juvenile. Meanwhile, Indira Lakshmanan of
Poynter Institute
The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the ''Tampa Bay Times'' newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Netwo ...
said that it was more likely that, out of fear, the user begged CNN to have his name withheld.
Kirsten Powers
Kirsten Anne Powers (born December 14, 1967) is an American author, liberal columnist, and political analyst. She currently writes for ''USA Today'', and is an on-air political analyst at CNN, where she appears regularly on ''Anderson Cooper 360 ...
, a commentator at CNN, also criticized CNN's decision, asking in a ''
USA Today
''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' article: "What about the people he routinely dehumanizes and degrades online?". Powers also wrote on Twitter that "people do not have a 'right' to stay anonymous so they can spew their racist, misogynist, homophobic garbage".
Coverage of the January 2019 Lincoln Memorial confrontation
On March 12, 2019, lawyers of Nick Sandmann, who was involved in the
January 2019 Lincoln Memorial confrontation
On January 18, 2019, a confrontation between groups of political demonstrators took place near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. The interaction between Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann and Native American Nathan ...
, filed a lawsuit on his behalf against CNN, seeking in damages, for allegedly "vicious" and "direct attacks" towards Sandmann. On January 7, 2020, the lawsuit was settled. The terms of the settlement have not been made public.
Coverage of the Kenosha unrest
On the night of August 26, 2020, CNN displayed a video caption during a news report showing a building engulfed in flames during the
Kenosha unrest
In the aftermath of the August 2020 police shooting of Jacob Blake, protests, riots, and civil unrest occurred in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and around the United States as part of the larger 2020–2022 United States racial unrest and Black Lives Ma ...
that read "Fiery But Mostly Peaceful Protests After Police Shooting".
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and other users on social media criticized the caption, including
Eric Trump
Eric Frederick Trump (born January 6, 1984) is an American businessman, activist, and former reality television presenter. He is the third child and second son of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, and his fir ...
, son of then-President Donald Trump.
Propaganda allegations on Expo 2020 coverage
In July 2021, CNN made an announcement that it will be the official broadcaster for the Expo 2020 Dubai, which was to be inaugurated in October 2021. Consequently, the news media initiated a "Dubai Now" vertical, covering the city's progress. Human rights group Freedom Forward criticized the agreement between the Emirates and CNN, and urged for the media house to be transparent about their relationship with the Arab nation, both on the financial and contractual terms.
See also
*
Anti-CNN April Media (until 2009, Anti-CNN) is a website established by Rao Jin, who was a 23-year-old Chinese student at the time, in response to what he identified as "the lies and distortions of facts from the Western media" concerning the 2008 Tibetan un ...
*
Al Jazeera controversies and criticism
Al Jazeera Media Network, endowed by the Government of Qatar, is one of the world's largest news organizations. It provides extensive news coverage through 80 bureaus on a variety of media platforms in several languages, including Arabic and Engli ...
BBC controversies
This article outlines, in chronological order, the various controversies surrounding or involving the BBC.
Early years 1926 General Strike
In 1926, the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) called a General Strike to prevent wage r ...
*
Fox News controversies
Fox News is an American basic cable and satellite television channel owned by Fox Corporation. During its time on the air, it has been the subject of several controversies and allegations.
Fox News has been described by academics, media figures ...
*
MSNBC controversies
MSNBC is a news and political commentary organization that has been the focus of several controversies. It has been accused by academics, media figures, political figures, and watchdog groups of having various biases in their news coverage as well ...