CNN 'Fact Check' on Transgender Mice Reversed
CNN's live fact check of Trump's address to Congress said he falsely claimed that $8 million had been spent on making mice transgender.
CNN
28 files on the record. 24 helped Democrats, 0 helped Republicans, 4 helped neither.
CNN: Trump Rushed Off Stage 'After He Falls'
Minutes after shots were fired at Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, CNN's live page said the Secret Service rushed him off stage after he fell.
The '40 Beheaded Babies' Report
Outlets reported that Hamas had killed and beheaded about 40 babies in Kibbutz Kfar Aza on October 7, 2023.
Joe Rogan Took 'Horse Dewormer'
After Joe Rogan said he had COVID-19 and had taken ivermectin, CNN and other outlets described the drug he took as a livestock or horse dewormer.
Early 2020 coverage of coronavirus risk and travel
In late January 2020 CNN reported that fear of the new coronavirus was fueling racism and xenophobia. On Feb 5 a New York Times opinion piece by Rosie Spinks questioned warnings against travel to China. In mid-February USA Today quoted a top US disease official describing the risk to Americans as 'minuscule' and advising hand-washing over masks. Seen in hindsight, the pieces show how early coverage understated the coming pandemic.
CNN: social networks 'radicalizing white men'
Two days after the Christchurch mosque attacks, CNN Business published an analysis arguing that YouTube and other platforms were radicalizing white men and that big tech could be doing more. Critics objected to the piece framing a demographic group as the subject of radicalization.
Nathan Phillips Called a Vietnam Combat Veteran
Coverage of the Lincoln Memorial encounter with Covington Catholic students described Native American activist Nathan Phillips as having fought in the Vietnam War.
Covington Catholic students cast as aggressors at the Lincoln Memorial
Based on a short viral clip, national outlets portrayed a group of Covington Catholic High School students, especially junior Nick Sandmann, as having surrounded, taunted and blocked a Native American elder, Nathan Phillips, near the Lincoln Memorial.
CNN: Cohen Says Trump Knew of Trump Tower Meeting in Advance
CNN reported, citing sources, that Michael Cohen was prepared to tell Mueller that Trump knew in advance about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians.
AP Deletes Tweet Saying Trump Called Border-Crossers 'Animals'
AP tweeted that Trump referred to people crossing the border illegally as 'animals'; CNN and others framed the remark as aimed at immigrants generally.
CNN gets the date wrong on a WikiLeaks email to the Trumps
CNN reported that on Sept. 4, 2016, an email offered Donald Trump and Donald Trump Jr. a website and decryption key for hacked WikiLeaks documents, which would have been before the documents were public.
Trump 'dumps' fish food into a koi pond in Japan
Headlines, tweets and tightly cropped clips presented President Trump as impatiently dumping an entire box of fish food into a koi pond at Akasaka Palace while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe looked on.
Who paid for the dossier: CNN "conspiracy" vs. WaPo report
After Trump tweeted asking whether Russia, the FBI or the Democrats had paid for the Steele dossier, a CNN analysis by Chris Cillizza described the tweet as a conspiracy theory; CNN's feed carried it under the short headline "President floats conspiracy theories". Five days later the Washington Post reported that the Clinton campaign and the DNC had funded, through a law firm, the research that produced the dossier.
Polish first lady 'snubs' Trump's handshake
Outlets ran a few-second clip from Trump's Warsaw visit as proof that Poland's first lady, Agata Kornhauser-Duda, refused to shake Trump's hand.
CNN retracts story tying Scaramucci to a Russian investment fund
A CNN investigative article said Congress was examining a Russian investment fund (the Russian Direct Investment Fund) whose CEO had allegedly met Trump associate Anthony Scaramucci shortly before the inauguration. The story rested on a single anonymous source.
CNN: Comey 'Expected to Refute' Trump
Citing sources, CNN reported that James Comey would dispute Trump's claim that Comey had told him he was not under investigation.
Comey 'asked for more resources' for the Russia probe days before he was fired
The day after Comey's firing, multiple outlets reported, citing congressional and other officials, that Comey had asked Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for a significant increase in resources for the Russia investigation shortly before Trump fired him.
CNN on paid family leave, before and after Trump's budget
In April 2017 a CNN opinion piece argued that every worker should have access to paid family leave. In May CNN reported that Trump's budget would propose paid parental leave, and eight days later CNN published an opinion piece arguing that paid leave mandates can backfire on women's hiring and pay.
CNN: "baseless" wiretap claim, then "Manafort wiretapped"
CNN called Trump's March 2017 claim that Obama wiretapped him baseless, and in September Chris Cillizza wrote that Trump had flatly lied after the Justice Department said in a court filing that it had no evidence for the claim. Two weeks later CNN reported as an exclusive that federal investigators had wiretapped Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, under secret FISA court orders.
Princeton Forecaster Called Clinton a 99% Lock, Then Ate a Bug on CNN
Sam Wang's Princeton Election Consortium gave Clinton a greater than 99 percent chance in one version of its model (93 percent in its final revised projection), calling the race for her in October. On CNN's Smerconish shortly before the election, Wang said he would eat a bug if Trump won more than 240 electoral votes.
'Vote Trump' church arson in Mississippi was by a congregation member
A week before the election, outlets widely reported the burning of Hopewell M.B. Church, a historically Black church in Greenville, Mississippi, spray-painted with 'Vote Trump', as a likely racially or politically motivated hate crime.
CNN: the election "can't be hacked", then the Russia hack
Three weeks before the vote, while Trump was warning of a rigged election, CNN's Tal Kopan explained that the decentralized US voting system made changing the result by hacking practically impossible. After the election, CNN reported Obama's order for a review of Russian election-related hacking (Kopan was a co-author), and a CNN opinion piece by Paul Waldman asked why there was not more outrage over Russia's hack.
CNN's Cuomo: It's 'illegal' for the public to possess the WikiLeaks emails
Introducing a segment on hacked Podesta emails in mid-October 2016, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo told viewers it was illegal to possess the stolen documents and that the rules were different for the media.
CNN on candidates' health: privacy, then a Trump check-up
The day after Hillary Clinton stumbled at a 9/11 memorial and her pneumonia was revealed, a CNN Health piece asked how much the public is owed about a candidate's medical history and quoted a bioethicist who said a candidate may keep it private unless they expect to die in office. Three days later CNN Health published a rundown of what was known about Donald Trump's health after he released results from a physical.
Wolf Blitzer at the CNN Grill after Clinton's DNC speech
Videos posted by attendees showed CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer drinking wine and dancing at CNN's after-party following its coverage of Hillary Clinton's 2016 convention speech. The Drudge Report headlined it 'CNN CELEBRATES HILLARY: BLITZER TOASTS SPEECH, DANCING, PARTY!' Mediaite and Business Insider reported the episode and CNN's response.
CNN's False 'Arrest Made' in Boston Bombing
On April 17, 2013, CNN reported that a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing had been arrested.
Sandy Hook: Wrong Brother Named as Shooter
Many outlets named Ryan Lanza as the Sandy Hook Elementary gunman, and some circulated his Facebook profile and photo.
Candy Crowley's Live Debate 'Fact Check' on Libya
Moderating the second presidential debate, CNN's Candy Crowley interjected to side with President Obama that he had called the Benghazi attack an act of terror, undercutting Mitt Romney mid-exchange.