CNN Caught Failing to Report One of the Biggest World Stories in Years
As 2017 turned into 2018, CNN’s coverage was chock full of stories about President Trump’s golfing, Ringo Starr getting knighted and even a marijuana party bus in Denver.
The anti-government protests in Iran? Not so much.
And after failing to mention one of the biggest world stories in years during the first few days of the protests, CNN only started reporting on it on its website when pro-government protests (which were planned before the anti-government protests broke out) began to counter the (much larger) protests against the government.
Well, at least “The Most Trusted Name in News” had important stories to peddle during the protests, as one Twitter user pointed out on Saturday.
The @CNN twitter feed last 24 hours:
✅ supermoon
✅ Barack & Hillary are very admired
✅ exotic racecars!
✅ analysis of Trump tweets
✅ Thatcher hated pandas
✅ Ringo and BeeGee knighted
✅ people really like avocados
❌ #IranianProtests— Razor (@hale_razor) December 30, 2017
Hey, look, that Thatcher hating pandas thing could definitely swing the next election in the U.K. to Labour. Prime Minister Jeremy Corbyn, here we come!
When CNN finally did start reporting on the protests in earnest, here’s what the network had to say:
“Nearly 2,000 people gathered near the capital (of Iran), Tehran, in support of the government’s policies,” the story reported.
Compare that with the spontaneous protests that have happened all over the country and it’s somewhat confusing why the pro-government protests would be the focus of the headline.
And, as Haley Byrd of the Weekly Standard pointed out, it wasn’t like there was something buried on their website about the protests.
https://twitter.com/byrdinator/status/947121647470948352
Later stories by CNN seemed to be willing to shift the focus to a convenient source:
Dear @CNN : What is happening in Iran is not about Mr. Trump. It’s about Iranian liberty. #IranianProtests #Iranprotests pic.twitter.com/EMF8sBVb9z
— Christina Sommers ? (@CHSommers) December 30, 2017
Even politicians took notice of CNN’s coverage.
Guys, when you're being accused of being fake-news propaganda, maybe try not to write stories that read like Iranian Pravda…. (or the Onion!) https://t.co/va8hLctCMN
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) December 30, 2017
As for why CNN might want to bury the Iranian protests, Cruz provided a bit of elucidation in a statement he issued via his Facebook account.
“The Iranian people want freedom and an end to the ayatollahs’ reign of terror,” Cruz wrote, “The sanctions relief provided under the disastrous Obama nuclear deal has done nothing but line the pockets of Iran’s mullahs whose sole desire is to spread their hateful ideology and do everything they can to murder Americans, Israelis, and our allies across Europe and the Middle East.”
This is the illegitimate and repressive regime that the Obama administration chose to make a deal with. Now that the people of Iran are finally expressing their frustration with Obama’s BFF’s in Tehran, it seems CNN would rather cover anything than historic protests for freedom across a brutalized nation.
Oh, but the network can spend plenty of time complaining about Donald Trump allegedly having his people park a moving van in front of a break in some bushes that allowed CNN cameras to shoot footage of him on his golf course. At least they have their priorities straight.
H/T News Alert
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