CNN is in quite a bit of hot water after a desperate attempt to go viral went horribly wrong in Syria.
It all started when the left-wing network’s Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward produced a story about how she and others supposedly released a man from a prison formerly controlled by Bashar al-Assad. CNN immediately published the video of the ordeal, bragging about how their cameras “caught the moment” he was “freed.”
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Ward then went to social media to garner clicks, calling it “one of the most extraordinary moments” she had ever witnessed.
In nearly twenty years as a journalist, this was one of the most extraordinary moments I have witnessed. https://t.co/rG3WmhKh7X
— Clarissa Ward (@clarissaward) December 11, 2024
Here’s what the video looked like. Despite CNN’s self-serving bluster about the “rescue,” issues were immediately apparent with the “prisoner.”
I think CNN needs to come clean about this staged video of Clarissa Ward @clarissaward freeing a Syrian prisoner pic.twitter.com/W9ovCfKiUa
— Giuseppe Mercadante (@itsmercadante) December 12, 2024
The man claimed to have been held in solitary confinement for three months. Yet he was well-clothed, clean-shaven, and clearly in excellent health. He was also more than happy to play his situation up for CNN’s enjoyment, and they were more than happy to accept whatever he said.
Something was off, though, and internet sleuths set to work to figure out what the truth was. The answer turned out to not only be mind-blowing, but a colossal, credibility-crushing embarrassment for CNN.
The prisoner CNN helped free from a secret facility in Syria was actually a notorious member of Bashar al-Assad’s forces known to torture those who refused to pay him off, according to a shocking local fact check.
The network went viral last week with footage of the startled prisoner being led from the prison by journalist Clarissa Ward, who called it “one of the most extraordinary moments I have witnessed” in her 20 years of reporting.
But “independent and unbiased” fact-checkers Verify-Sy published a detailed report Sunday saying that the seemingly innocent prisoner was actually Salama Mohammad Salama — a first lieutenant in Syrian Air Force Intelligence with a long history of alleged war crimes.
“We have subsequently been investigating his background and are aware that he may have given a false identity,” CNN acknowledged to The Post. “We are continuing our reporting into this and the wider story.”
Yes, the failing left-wing network was so desperate for ratings that it “accidentally” released a notorious torture agent of the now-fallen Bashar al-Assad regime. Telling CNN that his name was “Adel Gharbal,” Salama Mohammad Salama used Ward’s desperation to go viral as a means to escape his confinement. Why was he in the cell? Because after years of extorting, torturing, and murdering people, he got into a dispute over money with a higher-ranking officer.
Of course, the next question is just how unwitting Ward and her crew were. I’m not suggesting they knew who Mohammad Salama was, but the entire video appeared to be clearly staged. That means they may have scripted this entire ruse with him before filming it, providing him the cover he needed to slip away.
Notably, this isn’t the first time Ward has done this. In the early days of the current Israel-Gaza conflict, she was accused of staging a scene in which she came “under attack” by rocket fire. After lying on the ground for over a minute, she stood up only for the camera to show people casually strolling around with no evidence of a rocket attack.
This is what happens when “journalists” decide to cosplay as D-list actresses for cheap clips. Clarissa Ward was once a very good reporter, but she’s fallen into a perverted incentive structure that rewards going viral over telling the truth. It all blew up in their faces this time, and it’s another example of why no one trusts the mainstream press.
