The news outlet reported the man was said to have been involved with the collapsed Assad regime as an intelligence officer.

Summary

CNN admitted it was misled about the identity of a man in a viral report showing his release from a Syrian prison.

The man, who claimed to be Adel Gharbal, was identified by a Syrian fact-checking group as Salama Mohammad Salama, an officer of the Assad regime’s Air Force Intelligence Directorate.

CNN verified his identity through facial recognition and local reports, confirming he had been imprisoned briefly over disputes related to extortion.

The network acknowledged the error while noting the man’s reputation for harassment and misconduct.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldMEnglish
      6·
      13 hours ago

      Honestly? It was never great. I remember Bernard Shaw war reporting from Baghdad in 1991… hiding under a table in his luxury hotel suite while the bombs fell. You know, really brave war reporting showing what was going on at street level.

      And that moron Wolf Blitzer has been with CNN for how long now? This alone should have gotten him at the very least demoted. As far as I know, he didn’t even get a talking-to:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RjXHXIVL9g

    • Fades@lemmy.worldEnglish
      24·
      20 hours ago

      That’s what happens when oligarchs own the mass media companies. It’s not about journalistic integrity and reality, it’s about narratives shaped by/for the elite

      • JayEnglish
        8·
        19 hours ago

        Also why pay for employees that fact check when you can just stuff that money in your pockets instead. Win-win

  • apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    13·
    19 hours ago

    “Facial recognition” equals CNN being told that it was someone else and then they google’d that person for confirmation. CNN, jesus fucking christ.