CNN ‘fake news’ row over Muslim anti-terror demo
AMERICAN news channel CNN has denied claims it ‘staged’ a Muslim counter-terror demonstration.
News anchor Becky Anderson was reporting from London on Sunday when a group from the London Fatwa Council charity appeared in the background holding ‘ISIS will lose’ banners.
The demo took place by a police cordon near where the London Bridge terror attacks were carried out.
But a separate video emerged of the group apparently being positioned by the reporter, leading to claims the channel was ‘creating the narrative’.
Miss Anderson, who frequently fronts CNN International’s flagship news, mentioned the protesters’ signs in her report on the attack.
She said: ‘Behind me you can see a sign here, hashtag “turn to love”, hashtag ‘for London’, hashtag “ISIS will lose”, and flowers left in remembrance of those who left their lives.’
She called the demonstration a ‘poignant scene’ and urged the camera to pause on them to show viewers ‘how people feel here on the streets of London’.
The man who filmed the footage, a Twitter user called @markantro, said: ‘CNN creating the narrative #FakeNews.’
His video was shared more than 14,000 times on the social network and liked more than 16,000 times.
But a CNN spokesman said: ‘This story is nonsense. The group of demonstrators... was being allowed through by officers so they could show their signs to the gathered media.’
Mohammad Raza of the London Fatwa Council added: ‘Nothing was set up. We all decided to go down there.’