A few months later he wrote an op-ed for The Washington Times about his experience titled “Corruption at CNN” where he said he felt CNN was broadcasting Saddam Hussein’s propaganda for him in hopes of getting an exclusive interview with him (which they got scooped by CBS). “I thought long and hard; could I be comfortable with a news organization that played those kinds of games? I decided, no, I could not, and resigned.”780
These aren’t the only startling allegations of this kind. In 2012, former CNN journalist Amber Lyon went public with her experience of working for the network, giving details of what she said were more clear examples of them catering to dictatorships.781
“What CNN is doing is they are essentially creating what some people have termed ‘infomercials for dictators.’ And that’s the sponsored content that they are airing on CNN International that is actually being paid for by regimes and governments,” she said. “And this violates every principle of journalistic ethics, because we’re supposed to be watchdogs on these governments. We are not supposed to allow them to be a paying customer as journalists. And that’s the issue here◦— that CNN is feeding, then, this propaganda to the public and not fairly disclosing to the public that this is sponsored content.”782
In March of 2017, CNN aired an episode of a reality show / documentary series titled Believer with host Reza Aslan, a former Christian turned Muslim, who traveled around the world exploring all sorts of bizarre religious practices. One of the groups he interviewed was a cannibalistic sect of Hindus in India called the Aghoris, who literally cook members of their tribe when they die and eat them. He didn’t just interview them, he actually joined them around a bonfire where they cooked their friends’ dead body and his brain.783 When word began spreading online about this after the episode aired, many people (myself included) thought maybe he just sat there and observed their cannibal barbecue, but the host actually ate human brains too, and CNN really did air it.784
Just before the episode aired he posted on his Facebook page, “Want to know what a dead guy’s brain tastes like? Charcoal. It was burnt to a crisp!”785 Yes, the self-proclaimed “most trusted name in news” resorted to having one of their hosts eat dinner at a cannibal barbecue hoping to get people to tune in and watch. Reza Aslan was later fired for posting profanity-filled rants on Twitter aimed at the president and his children.786
CNN’s Trump/Russia conspiracy theories got so out of control that at one point a group of staffers ‘resigned’ after one of the stories put CNN at risk of being sued for defamation by one of Trump’s associates who the report focused on.787 He threatened to sue, and the story was not only retracted, but completely removed from CNN’s website. In its place was a retraction, reading, “CNN.com published a story connecting Anthony Scaramucci with investigations into the Russian Direct Investment Fund. That story did not meet CNN’s editorial standards and has been retracted. Links to the story have been disabled. CNN apologizes to Mr. Scaramucci.”788
An executive editor then sent an internal memo to staff at CNN, which someone leaked, reading in part, “No one should publish any content involving Russia without coming to me and Jason first. This applies to social, video, editorial, and MoneyStream. No exceptions.”789 Their reckless editorial policy was coming back to bite them.
CNN’s ‘sources’ became so bad that they reported former FBI Director James Comey would testify that he did not tell President Trump that he wasn’t under a criminal investigation regarding the allegations of Russian interference in the election, but just a few hours later Comey’s testimony proved CNN laughably wrong again.790 Wolf Blitzer would later reprimand reporter Gloria Borger on air her for bad sources, saying that, “either they don’t know what they’re talking about or they’re lying.”791
The very next day after the group of staffers resigned when another conspiracy theory was debunked, CNN was hit by another devastating blow to their credibility when hidden camera footage was released showing a long-time producer making some stunning revelations that further called into question the network’s integrity.
An undercover video of a CNN producer who worked at the network for almost fifteen years was published by the political activist organization Project Veritas showing him admitting that CNN’s constant coverage of the Trump/Russia conspiracy theories was “mostly bullshit,” just “for the ratings,” and that he thought President Trump was right to call it a “witch hunt.”792 The producer also laughed about the ‘ethics’ of the news business today.
Another video was released by Project Veritas the following day showing CNN host Van Jones calling the Trump/Russia ‘investigation’ a “big nothing burger.”793 A second producer was also caught on tape saying that 90% of the staff at CNN were anti-Trump, and that he thought the American people are “stupid as shit” for voting for him.794
The Washington Post published a story downplaying the significance of the footage and made an obviously false statement about it, which then led to the Post issuing a retraction about their own story trying to call into question the validity of the Project Veritas videos, making the whole thing look even worse for CNN.795
It’s unclear if CNN can ever repair the damage to their brand, and based off their editorial polices in recent years they appear to have completely abandoned any desire to be an actual news network. While many wonder if CNN will eventually go bankrupt due to destroying their once great reputation, they will likely stay in business and continue to function as a Leftist propaganda channel, although with a much smaller audience than they once enjoyed during their prime.
NBC News
One of the most shocking examples of fake news was when NBC aired a story about General Motors’ trucks having faulty gas tanks that could rupture if they got into an accident and possibly explode. While this was a real concern, NBC actually staged a scene where they crashed a car into the side of a GM truck and blew it up. It turns out that NBC producers not only put the wrong gas cap on the truck so it would pop off causing fuel to squirt out, but they also attached lit flares underneath the car that crashed into the truck so when the fuel spilled out of the tank, it caught on fire and blew up.796
The scene was dramatic, with a huge fireball engulfing the two vehicles, and news of the exploding gas tanks was now everywhere. But General Motors was suspicious and obtained the vehicles from the junkyard and had them forensically analyzed.
GM sued NBC after the analysis revealed what actually happened and NBC later admitted they staged the whole thing. “We apologize to our viewers and to General Motors. We have also concluded that unscientific demonstrations should have no place in hard news stories at NBC. That’s our new policy,” they said in a statement.797
Another embarrassing and unethical blunder was accidentally exposed live on air when a reporter was shown in a canoe rowing down the middle of flooded streets in New Jersey after heavy rain. As soon as she began her segment the live shot looked like she was in six feet of water in the middle of a suburb, but then two men came walking by directly in front of her, showing the water was only ankle deep.798