CNN employees accuse their own station of “journalistic misconduct.”

CNN logo in front of the headquarters in Atlanta: viewing angle heavily cropped

Photo: Erik S. Lesser/dpa

According to a media report, an internal dispute is raging at the US broadcaster CNN over journalistic standards in relation to the Middle East conflict. Several employees accused the company of “journalistic misconduct,” reports the British “Guardian.” Specifically, it will be about reporting on the Gaza war since the Islamist attack on Israel on October 7th. Accordingly, the Palestinian perspective on the conflict is severely curtailed.

"The majority of news since the start of the war, regardless of how accurate the initial reporting, has been distorted by a systemic and institutional bias against Israel within the network," a CNN employee told the Guardian. The broadcaster takes statements from the Israeli government at face value, says another, and there are strict restrictions on quoting Hamas and showing Palestinian points of view. Another reports a split in the editorial team. "Some people want out," they say. In addition, any story about the conflict must be approved by CNN's Jerusalem bureau before publication.

“How else should editors read this except as instructions?”

In total, the Guardian spoke to six employees and said it gained insight into dozens of internal memos and emails.

An internal directive from new CNN boss Mark Thompson says that while CCN will report on the human consequences of the Israeli attack, “we must continue to remind our viewers of the immediate cause of this current conflict, namely the Hamas attack and their mass murder and kidnapping of civilians”. Employees criticized that this instruction set too strict a framework. "How else should editors read this except as an instruction that ultimately Hamas is to blame, no matter what the Israelis do?" an employee is quoted as saying.

CNN denies the accusation to the Guardian. The Israeli response to the Hamas attack is being reported on with “detailed analyses, interviews and reports,” according to a spokesman. Both sides are treated equally: "We firmly reject the idea that our journalists treat Israeli officials differently than other officials."

Israel and the Islamist Hamas have been engaged in a new Gaza war for almost four months. The trigger was the worst massacre in Israel's history, carried out by terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups on October 7, 2023 in Israel near the border with the coastal strip. As a result, more than 1,200 people were killed on the Israeli side, including at least 850 civilians. Israel responded with massive air strikes and, from the end of October last year, also with a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza, more than 27,000 Palestinians have been killed since then.

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