“We at CNN advocate for facts and for truth,” David Zaslav, the newly installed head of Warner Bros. Discovery, CNN’s parent company, said just two months ago.
“If we get that, we can have a civilized society,” he told Oprah Winfrey. “And without it, if it all becomes advocacy, we don’t have a civilized society.”
Zaslav’s pro-truth sentiments echoed earlier statements by John Malone, a board member of the Discovery-TimeWarner conglomerate that controls CNN.
“I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with, and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” he told NBC last November. “I do believe good journalism could have a role in this future portfolio that Discovery-TimeWarner’s going to represent.”
Unfortunately, however, longtime CNN host Fareed Zakaria appears to have failed to get the memo from his new bosses that directs CNN towards fact-based journalism.
On the Sunday, June 26 broadcast of the eponymous show “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” CNN’s veteran journalist falsely claimed: “Israel is also one of those countries that has famously not really condemned the Russian aggression in Ukraine.”
In fact, Israel “really” condemned Russia’s aggression in the Ukraine on three occasions in the United Nations General Assembly: A/RES/ES-11/1 on March 2, A/RES/ES-11/2 on March 24 and A/RES/ES-11/3 on April 7.
MSNBC made an identical error, but corrected it, clarifying on May 5: “During Monday’s show, an NBC News correspondent made an unscripted comment that Israel had not condemned Russia over Ukraine. This was incorrect. Israel has condemned Russia at the U.N.”
On Monday, CAMERA contacted senior CNN editors pointing out the error, providing the details of the Israeli votes in favor of General Assembly resolutions condemning Russia, and noting MSNBC’s correction of the blatant falsehood. As of this writing, we find no indication that CNN has corrected the record in any way, indicating that the network regards its new bosses’ calls for fact-based journalism merely suggestions, as opposed to actual policy.
Tamar Sternthal is director of CAMERA’s Israel Office.
This article was originally published by CAMERA.
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