CNN International managing director and executive vice president Tony Maddox flew all the way from the CNN Center in Atlanta to Nairobi, Kenya, to smooth over relations after a CNN report labeled the country as a “hotbed of terror” when pointing out the possibility of an Al-Shabaab attack during President Barack Obama’s visit in July.
Appearing before the State House in Nairobi, Maddox admitted the description as a “hotbed of terror” was undeserved.
“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.”
In response, President Kenyatta said, “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.”
(H/t Forbes)
Categories: CNN
They didn’t pull down anything! http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/22/politics/obama-kenya-visit-al-shabaab-threat/