Exclusive: CNN Exposed! Caught Producing "State Sponsored News" in Bahrain

Exclusive: CNN Exposed! Caught Producing "State Sponsored News" in Bahrain

www.youtube.com

Back in March 2011, CNN sent a four person team to Bahrain to cover the Arab Spring. Once there, the crew was the subject of extreme intimidation amongst other things, but they were able to record some fantastic footage. As Glenn Greenwald of the UK's Guardian writes in his blockbuster article from today:

"In the segment, Lyon interviewed activists as they explicitly described their torture at the hands of government forces, while family members recounted their relatives' abrupt disappearances. She spoke with government officials justifying the imprisonment of activists. And the segment featured harrowing video footage of regime forces shooting unarmed demonstrators, along with the mass arrests of peaceful protesters. In sum, the early 2011 CNN segment on Bahrain presented one of the starkest reports to date of the brutal repression embraced by the US-backed regime.

Despite these accolades, and despite the dangers their own journalists and their sources endured to produce it, CNN International (CNNi) never broadcast the documentary. Even in the face of numerous inquiries and complaints from their own employees inside CNN, it continued to refuse to broadcast the program or even provide any explanation for the decision. To date, this documentary has never aired on CNNi.


Related News Links:
www.infowars.com

edit on 29-9-2012 by Swills because: (no reason given)

Former reporter Amber Lyon exposes CNN on the Alex Jones show.


I saw first-hand that these regime claims were lies, and I couldn’t believe CNN was making me put what I knew to be government lies into my reporting. - Amber Lyon

Oh noes, not Alex Jones!

More evidence that CNN is broadcasting propaganda for the masses and not reality. This isn't the first time CNN has been busted for their deception but having a former reporter come out and become a whistle blower is quite refreshing!

Are we all familiar with this gem brought to us by CNN?



God bless the internet and alternative news outlets.

CNN latest harmful reporting came from Egypt. They were there for the September 11 protests. CNN knew the Egyptian protests were not because of the a movie but rather the imprisonment of the blind sheikh Omar Abdul Rahman but they went ahead and falsely reported their lies anyway which sparked actual riot protests.

Man, we live in one sick and twisted world.

www.youtube.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Swills

God bless the internet and alternative news outlets.

Amen.

This is explosive stuff too. Watching now.

Not bad looking for a whistle-blower either.

reply to post by ChaoticOrder


Can I get another Amen?!

Poll: Distrust of media sets record

www.politico.com...

Three-fifths of Americans distrust the mass media — an all-time high, according to a poll released Thursday.

Sixty percent of Americans have little or no faith in the media to report the news accurately and fairly, according to a Gallup Poll, and 40 percent trust them a fair amount or a great deal. The percentage of Americans who distrust the media has been steadily rising since 2006, when 50 percent still trusted the press. In 2011, 55 percent of Americans were distrustful and 44 percent trusted the media...

.... The poll of 1,017 adults was conducted between Sept. 6 and Sept. 9 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Here's a doctoring job from a different network.

:

puz:

The controlled media needs to cover up what Bahrain is doing because TPTB needs to use that type of activity to use as a reason to invade Syria. It would be counterproductive to raise the question of why we (U.S. gov) are in such a cozy relationship with one, while at war with the other, when both are equally guilty of the same sort of thing, which is keeping the current government in power, which by the way is what our country's government would do too, if it felt threatened with being replaced.

It's not an exclusive...


CNN and the business of state-sponsered TV news

reply to post by Kram09


Nit picking aren't we? Besides, AJ had an article featuring her story from September 10. Thanks for the link though since I know many people don't like AJ and would like other sources.

Oh that nutcase AJ it's a shame so many people especially on this site fear being labeled.

as far as the article goes it's good to see a few people calling out the alphas unfortunately the Alphas always have a Die hard following, lies or not people will die for their perceived beliefs and are more than willfully ignorant to keep their peace of mind.

Another source for those who are not a fan of AJ. Personally Speaking I think it should be made clear that it is CNN International and NOT CNN who is responsible. Contrary to popular belief there is a difference between the 2 entitites. CNN did air the complete documentary where as CNN Internaitonal only aired segments of it.

The Guardian - Why didn't CNN's international arm air its own documentary on Bahrain's Arab Spring repression?

Some basics -

In late March 2011, as the Arab Spring was spreading, CNN sent a four-person crew to Bahrain to produce a one-hour documentary on the use of internet technologies and social media by democracy activists in the region. Featuring on-air investigative correspondent Amber Lyon, the CNN team had a very eventful eight-day stay in that small, US-backed kingdom.

By the time the CNN crew arrived, many of the sources who had agreed to speak to them were either in hiding or had disappeared. Regime opponents whom they interviewed suffered recriminations, as did ordinary citizens who worked with them as fixers. Leading human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was charged with crimes shortly after speaking to the CNN team. A doctor who gave the crew a tour of his village and arranged meetings with government opponents, Saeed Ayyad, had his house burned to the ground shortly after. Their local fixer was fired ten days after working with them.

The entire documentary was NOT done by just Amber or the others with her. The documentary length was 1 hour and her segment took up 13 minutes of that hour.

CNN's total cost for the documentary, ultimately titled "iRevolution: Online Warriors of the Arab Spring", was in excess of $100,000, an unusually high amount for a one-hour program of this type. The portion Lyon and her team produced on Bahrain ended up as a 13-minute segment in the documentary. That segment, which as of now is available on YouTube, is a hard-hitting and unflinching piece of reporting that depicts the regime in a very negative light.

It did air in the US in total, including her segment -

On 19 June 2011 at 8pm, CNN's domestic outlet in the US aired "iRevolution" for the first and only time.

CNN International is the entity that refused to air it -

Despite these accolades, and despite the dangers their own journalists and their sources endured to produce it, CNN International (CNNi) never broadcast the documentary. Even in the face of numerous inquiries and complaints from their own employees inside CNN, it continued to refuse to broadcast the program or even provide any explanation for the decision. To date, this documentary has never aired on CNNi.

How the ball got rolling -

CNNi's refusal to broadcast "iRevolution" soon took on the status of a mini-scandal among its producers and reporters, who began pushing Lyon to speak up about this decision. In June 2011, one long-time CNN news executive emailed Lyon:


"Why would CNNi not run a documentary on the Arab Spring, arguably the the biggest story of the decade? Strange, no?"

Motivated by the concerns expressed by long-time CNN journalists, Lyon requested a meeting with CNNi's president, Tony Maddox, to discuss the refusal to broadcast the documentary. On 24 June 2011, she met with Maddox, who vowed to find out and advise her of the reasons for its non-airing. He never did.

In a second meeting with Maddox, which she had requested in early December to follow up on her unanswered inquiry, Lyon was still given no answers. Instead, at that meeting, Maddox, according to Lyon, went on the offense, sternly warning her not to speak publicly about this matter. Several times, Maddox questioned her about this 18 November 2011 tweet by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, demanding to know what prompted it:

CNN responds -

When I asked CNN to comment on Maddox's meetings with Lyon, they declined to respond on specific details and said he was not available for interview. Instead, they made the following statement:


"The documentary 'iRevolution' was commissioned for CNN US. While the programme did not air in full on CNN International, segments of it were shown. This differing use of content is normal across our platforms, and such decisions are taken for purely editorial reasons. CNN International has run more than 120 stories on Bahrain over the past six months, a large number of which were critical in tone and all of which meet the highest journalistic standards."

Bahrains government involvement -

Despite Lyon's being stonewalled by CNNi, she said facts began emerging that shined considerable light on the relationship between the regime in Bahrain and CNNi when it came to "iRevolution". Upon returning from Bahrain in April, Lyon appeared on CNN several times to recount her own detention by security forces and to report on ongoing brutality by the regime against its own citizens, even including doctors and nurses providing medical aid to protesters. She said she did not want to wait for the documentary's release to alert the world to what was taking place.

In response, according to both the above-cited CNN employee and Lyon, the regime's press officers complained repeatedly to CNNi about Lyon generally and specifically her reporting for "iRevolution". In April, a senior producer emailed her to say:


"We are dealing with blowback from Bahrain govt on how we violated our mission, etc."

"It became a standard joke around the office: the Bahrainis called to complain about you again," recounted Lyon. Lyon was also told by CNN employees stationed in the region that "the Bahrainis also sent delegations to our Abu Dhabi bureau to discuss the coverage."

Sources -
CNN Internationals response

UPDATE: Here is CNN International's response to Glenn Greenwald's story in the Guardian about Amber Lyon's documentary, iRevolution: Online Warriors of the Arab Spring.

CNN International has carried advertising and sponsored content since the 1990s. The critical issue is that our editorial operations and our commercial operations are completely separate. No deal ever buys any editorial influence.

Alongside many other international news outlets, CNN International has carried a very small amount of advertising from the Bahrain Economic Development Board.

Before, during and after the production timeframe and airing of this specific documentary our editorial coverage of Bahrain has been plentiful, thorough, unbiased and frequently critical, as our previous response below underlines and any search on CNN.com will attest.

CNNI's previous response after the jump.


1. False: CNN International did not air "its own documentary".

The Truth: It was never intended to air on CNN International. It was an hour-long program about the impact of social media on the Arab Spring that was commissioned for CNN US, where it ran in June of 2011. The portion of it that concerned Bahrain lasted about 13 minutes.

Despite Greenwald’s speculation about the editorial choices that are made when operating multiple networks with different audience profiles, there is nothing unusual about this programming decision.

2. False: CNN International ensured Amber's reporting "was never seen on television by Bahrainis or anyone else in the region."

LOTS of info from both sides in the links provided. Hope this helps the debate / topic some.


Glenn Greewalds response to CNNi's response.




edition.cnn.com.../video/world/2011/04/22/lyon.bahrain.medical.crisis.cnn

reply to post by Swills

Oh how I would love to see this spark the outrage that brings the public demanding more information and more details. I'll bet that if the truth be known, this is done across the entire spectrum of media at various levels and in various ways. It'll take insiders like her to expose and throw or risk everything to do. Brave people....which we have very few of and especially among the media. So..I wouldn't count on much disclosure beyond this for now.

I sure appreciate knowing a confirmed case to go by in judging what others may or may not be doctored and by how much. Similar to the Photo-shopped images out of Lebanon a couple years ago and Syria now. It sure helps knowing how it was done when they're called out like this.

How utterly shameful for the networks and cable news organizations though. All of them.... This is just unacceptable when so many people call this their only news source.

reply to post by Swills


Brave, courageous and down. More cahonies than most men in journalism. She may have made a great career move here on top of it. She needs some good people watching her back and I wouldn't mind being one of em.
Hope she stays safe.
Thanks OP

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I wouldn't expect for CNN or any MSM to disclose anything. What I would love to see is people to stop giving them the time of day. That's how you hurt the machine. Last I check CNN's ratings were going down but I haven't checked in while, so that's good news. According to a recent poll 60% of Americans don't trust the MSM at all, so that's also good news.

I want the old regime to crash and burn and journalism with integrity prevail, ie Benn Swann's Reality Check.

reply to post by randyvs


Alex Jones would be a fool if he isn't offering her any job she would want but we all know she can do better. I could see her reporting for RT News. As far as her safety, well if she get's another TV gig at least she'll be in the public eye. So let's hope shes' got good people in her life watching over her.

reply to post by Xcathdra


Thanks for all added information. The more the merrier!

As for this,

Speaking I think it should be made clear that it is CNN International and NOT CNN who is responsible.

I think that point is made clear in the OP. Although, CNN is all the same to me so I'm on the side on the contrary belief

19 flags...where are the posts??

anyway...you know whats happening here innit....

its going to lead to....Iran vs Saudi Arabia......all because of bahrain.....

reply to post by thePharaoh


Iran has claims on Bahrain so its a pretty complex topic..

Iranian claims on Bahrain - Wiki

Iran has often laid claim to Bahrain, based on its history of being a part of the Persian Empire and its seventeenth-century defeat of the Portuguese and its subsequent occupation of the Bahrain archipelago. The Arab clan of the Al Khalifa, which has been the ruling family of Bahrain since the eighteenth century, has many times shown loyalty to Iran when disputes with British colonizers were brought up by raising the Iranian flag on official buildings during the last years of the 19th century. Iran in return reserved a seat in the Iranian parliament in early 1900s for its 14th province which was Bahrain. The last shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, raised the Bahrain issue with the British when they withdrew from areas east of the Suez Canal. Iran desired a referendum sponsored by the UN in Bahrain so that the entire population would be able to vote on the future of the tiny Persian Gulf state, but the British refused and in turn suggested a method by which a British officer would give his report on the general inclinations of Bahrain's population after a general review. Since the majority of Bahrainis are Shiite, the British were not willing to put the future of Bahrain which is strategically important in the hands of the whole population. Due to this fact, the Bahrain issue was never really settled as some argue the UN sponsored report which was prepared by a British officer did not illustrate the true aspirations of the Bahrainis at the time and the role Britain played in this scenario had a major effect on the independence of the Persian Gulf state.[citation needed] In return for the withdrawal of its claim on Bahrain, the British recognized the Greater and Lesser Tonb Islands as longstanding part of Iranian territory, and have Abu Musa be administrated by Iran and U.A.E. mutually. The religious leaders of the Iranian Revolution revived the claim to Bahrain primarily on the grounds that the majority of Bahrainis were Shia Muslims.

Originally posted by Swills
reply to post by Xcathdra

 

Thanks for all added information. The more the merrier!

As for this,

Speaking I think it should be made clear that it is CNN International and NOT CNN who is responsible.

I think that point is made clear in the OP. Although, CNN is all the same to me so I'm on the side on the contrary belief

You're welcome... I am not a fan of AJ at all so when I came across the other sources I figured why not add em. At least it adds validity (in my opinion ) to the topic and the claims made.

As for CNN and CNNi fair enough

reply to post by jmdewey60


Why isn't Russia and China making that same point regarding the Anglo-American coalition duality of standard ?

Originally posted by Panic2k11
reply to post by jmdewey60

 

Why isn't Russia and China making that same point regarding the Anglo-American coalition duality of standard ?

maybe they are but that message isn't making it to us?

since the flow of information I imagine is being controlled, the main underlying point of the thread?

reply to post by yourmaker


That does not seem a good explanation, I don't have a better one, besides that the often ATS view that all governments are at some level a united by TPTB...

But your answer can't explain for instance the flack that Russia and China has been taking at the UN or how things like having the Turk president call on TV China's president a liar, since he had agreed not to block the last security council vote...

PS: The Turks are in it with NATO but they have their own reasons to go after Syria (water rights being the most pressing).