The ‘error’ came hours after CNN was blasted for portraying the (alleged) terrorists as exuberant teens who got carried away
CNN is struggling to accurately and sanely report on the ISIS-inspired terror suspects arrested for throwing homemade bombs in Manhattan over the weekend. Hours after the network published—then revised, and revised again—a ridiculous article portraying the alleged terrorists as exuberant teenagers who got a little carried away, primetime anchor Abby Phillip sullied the airwaves with blatant misinformation.
On Tuesday’s episode of CNN NewsNight, Phillip described the failed bombing as “an attempted terror attack against New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani.” That is not correct. The suspects, Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, threw their explosive devices into a crowd of people protesting Mamdani, who is Muslim, outside the mayor’s residence in Manhattan. Balat was filmed chanting “Allahu Akbar” following his arrest. Both suspects pledged allegiance to ISIS under questioning.
Phillip acknowledged the “error” and apologized Wednesday morning. “I want to correct something I said last night,” the CNN host wrote on X. “The bombs thrown in New York City over the weekend by ISIS inspired attackers was thrown [sic] into a crowd of anti-Muslim protestors and not specifically targeted at Mayor Mamdani. That wording was inaccurate and I didn’t catch it ahead of time. I apologize for the error.” Whoopsie!
It’s an interesting use of the word “specifically.” There is no evidence Mamdani was targeted at all and no reason to believe a couple of ISIS fans would attack a Muslim mayor who celebrated Ramadan with a Hamas supporter who has chanted about bombing Tel Aviv. Phillip made the false claim while introducing a segment on Republican congressmen who made anti-Muslim remarks after the ISIS-inspired incident. It seemed like an attempt to draw a connection between those comments and an attack targeting a Muslim mayor—even though that wasn’t true.
Phillip’s alleged error raises the possibility that no one at CNN knows the facts surrounding the attack because they get all their news from CNN. The first two iterations of the network’s egregious article on “what we know” about the terror suspects said they were “arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home.” Upon reading that, one could reasonably infer that the suspects were taking part in the anti-Muslim protests and conclude that Mamdani was the target.
The article, written by a Los Angeles-based correspondent (they/them) who attended the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism after majoring in gender studies at the University of California, Berkeley, was a remarkable piece of journalism—before the network’s public relations stepped in.
“Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather,” the story initially read. “But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home.”
CNN deleted a post on X that quoted this opening paragraph, saying that it “failed to reflect the gravity of the incident thereby breaching the editorial standards we require for all our reporting.” Meanwhile, the story itself was revised without explanation. The subtle reference to climate change was removed. The suspects were upgraded from “teenagers” to “men,” and instead of noting the drastic life changes they would experience after trying to commit terrorism, the revised text described the attack as a “dark turn” in the “trajectory” of the ISIS duo.
Brian Stelter, the network’s media reporter and unofficial spokesman, praised his employer for “quickly” addressing the social media post, which was “rightly criticized.” He insisted the story was “solid,” without mentioning (or realizing) that the post had been lifted from the story, which was eventually revised again and adorned with an editor’s note about failing to “reflect the gravity of the incident” in accordance with CNN’s “editorial standards.” The introduction was completely rewritten to emphasize factual accuracy and minimize sympathy for (alleged) terrorists.
Journalists aren’t the only professional Democrats who have struggled to comment on the attack. Many elected officials in New York City, including Mamdani, responded to the ISIS-inspired attempted bombing by condemning Islamophobia.
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