CNN boss apologizes to Kenya over terrorism slur

Cable News Network (CNN) has apologized to Kenya over a recent terrorism slur. In a televised CNN report preceding President Obama’s July trip to Kenya, the news network has referred to the East African country as a “hotbed of terror” while highlighting the possibility of an attack by Al-Shaabab militants during the President’s visit. Kenyans were not amused by CNN’s labeling and immediately took to social media to hurl insults and sarcastic humor at CNN under the hashtag #SomeoneTellCNN, which ended up trending on Twitter for a few days. But the Kenyan government took a more serious approach towards reprimanding CNN. Two weeks ago, the Kenyan Tourism Board, a state agency whose mission is to drive and support the effective marketing of Kenya’s tourism products, said it was withdrawing advertising from the network in reaction to the “misrepresentation of the country’s status.” But on Thursday, Tony Maddox, CNN’s global Executive Vice President and Managing Director, who oversees CNN’s global editorial policy, flew all the way from Atlanta to Nairobi to personally apologize to President Uhuru Kenyatta and Kenyans. At a meeting in the State House in Nairobi, Maddox admitted that CNN’s description of Kenya as a “hotbed of terror” was both undeserved and ill-conceived. “We acknowledge there is a widespread feeling that the report annoyed many, which is why we pulled down the report as soon as we noticed. It wasn’t a deliberate attempt to portray Kenya negatively, it is regrettable and we shouldn’t have done it. There is a world at a war with extremists; we know what a hotbed of terror looks like, and Kenya isn’t one,” Maddox said. President Kenyatta, while expressing his disappointment at the story, urged CNN to stick to factual reporting and to show more responsibility in its delivery of security-related news about Kenya. He reiterated that the war on terror was a global threat, not exclusive to Kenya, and that the country was making remarkable strides in defeating its enemies. The President said that the CNN report made a mockery of the great sacrifices that Kenya’s armed forces and other security personnel continually make to keep the country safe. “In one stroke, CNN’s description of Kenya as a ‘hotbed of terror’ undermined the sacrifices made by our Kenyan troops, and the value of hundreds of lives lost, and relegated them to nothing. That’s why Kenyans, as expressed by those on Twitter, were so angry. Kenya is nothing like the countries that have real war. There was no reason to portray Kenya in that way,” the President said.

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CNN boss apologizes to Kenya over terrorism slur