Authors
An Electronics & Communication engineer by training, Arjun switched to journalism to follow his passion. After completing a diploma in Broadcast Journalism at the India Today Media Institute, he has been debunking mis/disinformation for over three years. His areas of interest are politics and social media. Before joining Newschecker, he was working with the India Today Fact Check team.
Amid the fallout of the controversial comments of suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma against the Prophet Muhammad, a slate of videos has gone viral debating whether Sharma’s comments were right or wrong. Recently, a video seemingly taken from a CNN report is doing the rounds on social media purportedly showing the American media house drew parallels with the life of the Prophet while reporting a story on child trafficking and abuse.
The CNN story details the story of an Afghani girl who is being “sold to a 55-year-old man for 2,000 US Dollars” as stated by the narrator of the story. The controversial portion of the video is the caption right at the bottom of the screen which seems to indicate that CNN news channel had drawn a parallel with the life of the Prophet while broadcasting this story.
Archive of the tweet can be seen here.
Social media users are sharing the video claiming it to be original reportage by CNN. Believing it to be true, a Twitter user wrote that the Arab countries should first protest against CNN which said exactly the same as what Nupur Sharma said about Prophet Muhammad. The video with similar claims is viral on Twitter and Facebook.
The claim is viral in the backdrop of the controversial statement of the now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma in a TV debate show about the Prophet Muhammad. The matter became a diplomatic nightmare for India with several Arab countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE etc, condemning derogatory remarks made by Nupur and registering their protests with the Indian envoy including asking for a public apology.
Fact Check/Verification
With the help of some keywords, we found the original version of the viral video uploaded on November 2, 2021, on CNN’s official YouTube channel. The CNN report is based on “desperate Afghan parents” who sold their 9-year-old daughter to a 55-year-old man for survival. The report tells the plight of poor Afghans who are not able to arrange food for their families since the Taliban took over.
After one minute in the longer version of the CNN video, we came across the same visuals as seen in the viral video. However, there was a difference between the viral video and the actual one. The longer and original version of the video shows a different caption /text plate at the bottom of the screen and the controversial comment regarding the Prophet was nowhere to be seen as shown below.
Conclusion
Thus, we conclude that a CNN video report has been edited to make a false and controversial reference to the Prophet Muhammad in wake of the recent controversy surrounding Nupur Sharma’s remarks.
Result: Manipulated Media/Altered Video
Our Sources
YouTube video of CNN, uploaded on November 2, 2021
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Authors
An Electronics & Communication engineer by training, Arjun switched to journalism to follow his passion. After completing a diploma in Broadcast Journalism at the India Today Media Institute, he has been debunking mis/disinformation for over three years. His areas of interest are politics and social media. Before joining Newschecker, he was working with the India Today Fact Check team.
