Nigeria Threatens to Sanction CNN over Protest Coverage
Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture on Thursday called for sanctions to be placed on the U.S. cable news network CNN, denying the network’s report claiming that Nigerian soldiers shot live rounds of ammunition at anti-police protesters in Lagos last month.
“CNN relied heavily on unverified and possibly-doctored videos, as well as information sourced from questionable sources to reach its conclusion. This should earn CNN a serious sanction for irresponsible reporting,” Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture Alhaji Lai Mohammed said on Thursday, the Lagos-based newspaper Vanguard reported on Friday.
In its November 19 report, CNN alleged that Nigerian Army soldiers shot at a number of anti-police protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos on the night of October 20, declaring the incident a “massacre.” CNN cited “dozens of eyewitnesses” who claimed that “protestors at the toll gate … were shot at, first by members of the Nigerian army and then hours later by police. Eyewitnesses told CNN they saw the army remove a number of bodies from the scene.”
Nigeria’s “civil society organizations, the Nigerian Bar Association, and Senior Advocates of Nigeria,” joined the Nigerian government in expressing “outrage” at CNN’s allegations on Thursday and “advised [the] government to be cautious in its dealing with the news network,” according to Vanguard.
“CNN engaged in incredible sensationalism and did a great disservice to itself and to journalism. In the first instance, CNN, which touted its report as an exclusive investigative report, sadly relied on the same videos that have been circulating on social media, without verification,” Nigeria’s information minister explained.
“This is very serious and CNN should be sanctioned for that. CNN merely said the videos were ‘obtained by CNN,’ without saying wherefrom and whether or not it authenticated them. Were CNN reporters and cameramen at the Lekki Toll Gate that evening?” Mohammed asked.
“CNN stands by its investigation,” a company spokesperson said on Thursday. “Our reporting was carefully and meticulously researched, and we stand by it,” the spokesperson said in a statement emailed to the press.
https://www.breitbart.com/africa/2020/11/21/nigeria-threatens-to-sanction-cnn-over-protest-coverage/