CNN is facing fire for reporting a statement from Iranian officials that differed from the one the Trump administration shared. FCC Chair Brendan Carr is calling for punishment for the network as a result.
After the United States, Israel, and Iran agreed to a ceasefire on Tuesday evening, CNN reported that Iran claimed it had “achieved a great victory.”
That report quickly drew the ire of President Donald Trump and the White House, who labeled the statement a “fraud.”
Trump then took to Truth Social, writing: “Authorities are looking to determine whether or not a crime was committed on the issuance of the Fake CNN World Statement. Or was it a sick rogue player? CNN is being ordered to immediately withdraw this statement with full apologies for their, as usual, terrible ‘reporting.’ Results of the investigation will be announced in the near future.”
Following Trump’s post, Brendan Carr also took to social media to lambast the cable network.
“More outrageous conduct from CNN,” Carr wrote. “Fake news is bad enough for the country, but pushing out a hoax headline in such a sensitive national security moment as this requires accountability. Iran put out an official statement that simply cannot be squared with the one CNN’s false headline attributes to them. Time for change at CNN.”
CNN pushed back and defended its reporting as legitimate. It argued it had obtained the statement directly from Iranian officials and would not issue a retraction.
“The statement in question was obtained by CNN from Iranian officials and reported on multiple Iranian state media outlets,” a CNN spokesperson said. “We received the statement from specific official Iranian spokespeople who are known to us.”
While Brendan Carr has called for “accountability” for the network, it isn’t likely to come from his commission. The FCC does not have jurisdiction over cable networks.
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