CNN botches New York terrorist attack coverage, forced to issue multiple corrections
CNN has been forced to issue a pair of corrections already in its coverage of Saturday's attempted terror attack against protesters outside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's residence, including for a poorly received social media post and a false on-air statement from one of its top anchors.
A pair of suburban Pennsylvania young adults are accused of carrying out the attempted terror attack after allegedly throwing improvised explosive devices outside Gracie Mansion during a "Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City" rally on Saturday. The suspects, 18-year-old Emir Balat and 19-year-old Ibrahim Kayumi, were photographed holding the devices and the case is being investigated as an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism.
On Tuesday, CNN was forced to delete a social media post about the attack after widespread backlash.
"Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather," the CNN post intended to promote a story about the attack said. "But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home. Here's what we know so far."
After the network was roasted for the post’s framing, which made the suspects seem like bystanders brought down by fate, CNN deleted the message.
"A post regarding the two individuals arrested for throwing homemade bombs outside of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home failed to reflect the gravity of the incident, thereby breaching the editorial standards we require for all our reporting. It has therefore been deleted," CNN wrote.
CNN’s correction was slapped with reader-added context on X.
Even CNN media analyst Brian Stelter was critical, writing in his newsletter Tuesday morning, "The story itself was solid. But the tweet was outrageous — and quickly addressed by CNN management." He added the outlet was "rightly criticized" for the post.
Stelter was then widely criticized himself when readers noticed the "solid" post actually had an editor’s note because the story originally had similar framing to the since-deleted post.
"How out of freakin’ touch can you be, if you’re CNN, to write it like that?" radio host Rich Zeoli said Wednesday when appearing on "America’s Newsroom."
"They’re doing it to make these guys seem like heroes, let’s be honest," Zeoli continued. "That’s what the original post was about. They wanted to say that they came across a White supremacist rally, and they decided to take action."
CNN wasn't done erring on Tuesday, however.
Later that evening, CNN’s Abby Phillip falsely stated that the alleged ISIS-inspired terror attack was "against" Mamdani.
"Two Republicans say Muslims don’t belong here after an attempted terror attack against New York’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the House speaker, Mike Johnson, says nothing, really, to condemn those comments," Phillip told CNN viewers, stumbling in her delivery as she went to a commercial break.
In reality, the attack occurred outside Mamdani’s residence, but he was not the target. Much like the since-deleted X post, Phillip’s remark was met with significant online criticism.
Later in the program, CNN’s Ana Navarro said the attack was "against Mayor Mandani in New York, who was raised Muslim," but conservative panelist Joe Borelli quickly corrected her.
"It was attacking protesters, people protesting Mamdani. To frame it as an anti-Muslim attack would actually completely reverse what happened," Borelli said.
Phillip took to social media on Wednesday morning to offer an apology for her remarks, making no mention of Navarro.
"I want to correct something I said last night. The bombs thrown in New York City over the weekend by ISIS inspired attackers was thrown into a crowd of anti-Muslim protestors and not specifically targeted at Mayor Mamdani. That wording was inaccurate and I didn’t catch it ahead of time. I apologize for the error," Phillip wrote.
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Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, filling in for Bill Hemmer on "America’s Newsroom" on Wednesday, called CNN’s first mistake "absolutely ridiculous" and said he "didn’t even think it was real" at first.
Democratic strategist Melissa DeRosa also appeared Wednesday on Fox News to discuss CNN’s debacles.
"It’s almost as if the media covering this entire thing has devolved into parody," DeRosa said, also criticizing The New York Times.
"You’re seeing a really troubling pattern in how this is being covered and the bias underneath it," she continued. "It all needs to be called out."
CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch confirmed Monday that the devices were not smoke bombs or hoaxes, but real improvised explosive devices capable of causing serious injury or death. Mamdani, the city's first Muslim mayor, has described the attempted attack as "terrorism" but did not reference radical Islam in his initial public remarks.
Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.