When we advise you to never believe all the things you see, hear and watch in the mainstream media, we mean business. It is not a joke. You can easily be misled if you don’t go the extra mile to seek alternative news sources.
Many of the news stories in the mainstream media are biased. They serve a particular interest and purpose. A large percentage of the stories within the mainstream media serve the interests of the government, the ownership or advertising companies. You can read more on this in Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman’s book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media.
On March 22 2016, the city of Brussels was shaken by multiple bombing attacks at the airport, and later at the metro station located next to the headquarters of the European Union.
When the attacks happened, the news media, including us, were all busy putting something together to inform our audience about the situation on the ground. For us, in order not to misinform our audience, we were very careful when selecting information from the situation room.
While some media outlets were giving an independent and balanced account of the situation, the Cable News Network (CNN) switched on its propaganda machine. CNN is owned by the Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner. For whatever reason, the network decided to mislead its audience during the immediate aftermath of the devastating attacks.
As security and emergency service officials were busy trying to save the lives of those injured and take control of the situation, CNN started showing a segment of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage, claiming it was from one of the scenes of the attack.
The footage showed a chaotic scene of a smoke-filled subway tube, with people running for their lives. In the video, people were frantically attempting to escape a burning subway, while Chris Cuomo pretended he was a reporter.
CNN then cited a Twitter handle, @OnlinMagazine, as its source of the video. The Free Thought Projectlater revealed that @OnlinMagazine is a non-existent source.
The Free Thought Project also revealed that the video CNN claimed was from the March 22, 2016 bombings in Brussels, was actually recorded on April 11, 2011 during the bombing of the Minsk Metro in Belarus.
CNN has not retracted and apologized for using the fake video to deceive its teeming audience worldwide. The video is still available for viewing on its YouTube channel. When the attacks happened, many fake videos went viral, especially on social media. At the time of CNN’s broadcast of the fake video, authorities in Brussels had not released any footage of the attacks.
In such highly sensitive situations, CCTV footage is always carefully reviewed before it is released to the public.
Many mainstream media critics have described CNN’s actions as ridiculous. Some have said CNN should do the honorable thing and issue a categorical apology to its audience.
But looking at the situation, it is unlikely that CNN will issue any form of an apology. The best thing for you to do is to never believe all the things in the mainstream media. The mainstream media is there to serve the interests of a number of unseen people. Be aware and stay vigilant!
In such highly sensitive situations, CCTV footage is always carefully reviewed before it is released to the public.
Many mainstream media critics have described CNN’s actions as ridiculous. Some have said CNN should do the honorable thing and issue a categorical apology to its audience.
But looking at the situation, it is unlikely that CNN will issue any form of an apology. The best thing for you to do is to never believe all the things in the mainstream media. The mainstream media is there to serve the interests of a number of unseen people. Be aware and stay vigilant!
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