CNN has admitted that a report on a freed Syrian prisoner it aired last week was not entirely accurate. The network had initially believed the story, which featured a man being released from prison after the fall of dictator Bashar Assad’s regime.
However, further investigation by CNN found out that the man shown in correspondent Clarissa Ward’s report gave a false identity. The individual revealed to be Salama Mohammad Salama, a former intelligence officer for the Assad government, was not who he claimed to be.
CNN acknowledged its mistake and expressed humility about the challenges of reporting from a chaotic environment where information can be difficult to verify in real-time. Clarissa Ward noted that despite the difficulties, CNN should have done more to verify the prisoner’s story before airing it.
The incident has raised questions about the network’s verification process and how it can improve its reporting in such situations.
Source: https://apnews.com/article/syria-prisoner-clarissa-ward-fake-98ee34d4e125d45bd18b57f55526c709