‘Bahrain buys favorable CNN content’
RT
October 3, 2012
Amid a violent crackdown on a popular uprising, Bahrain paid CNN to
get favorable coverage, says a former reporter who believes her
documentary on the protests there was censored by the network.
Former CNN journalist Amber Lyon made the documentary more than six
months ago. It was aired domestically in the US, but never made it to
CNN international, raising claims that the management pulled the plug on
the story. RT spoke to Lyon to get the full story of what happened.
RT: You feel your documentary should have been aired internationally. Why?
Amber Lyon:I’ve
created a lot of documentaries for CNN that didn’t air internationally.
Most I feel should’ve been aired internationally because seasoned,
decades-long employees have approached me after it wasn’t aired and told
me this should’ve been aired on CNN International and told that they
felt that something strange was going on and that I should investigate
it. And that’s where it was uncovered that we felt that this documentary
was censored, because Bahrain was actually a paying customer for CNN.
Bahrain is paying CNN to create content that shows Bahrain in a
favorable light. Even though CNN says its content is editorially
independent Bahrain can affect that – what we’ve seen with that
documentary not airing and also with the constant struggle I had at CNN
to get Bahrain coverage, accurate coverage of the human rights abuses
on-air while I was there.
