CNN’s Amanpour Strikes Back Against Media Bashing

BizBash’s David Adler and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour. Photo courtesy of Haddad Media.

CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour struck back at critics of the mainstream media, saying her “blood ran cold” seeing tweets from Donald Trump claiming protests following his election as president were “incited by the media.”

Several statements by Trump in recent weeks, such as calling reporters “despicable and dishonest,” “liars” and “crooks” lay the groundwork for a dangerous and unstable political narrative.

“They target the press and set the press up as an opposition to the government, and they do it by subtly ratcheting up the accusations against the press — so, inciting, sympathizing, associating, actually being terrorists and subversives,” she said speaking to CBC News’ The Investigators.

Amanpour continued that Trump’s language is strikingly similar to political leaders in non-democratic countries, where journalists are regularly criticized, harassed and even imprisoned for their reporting.

“And, as you know, journalists around the world are routinely locked up, put in jail, put on trial on phony charges. So that’s why that worried me very much, and I felt I had to push back on that and take a stand against that.”

I never thought I would be up on stage appealing for the freedom & safety of American journos at home. @pressfreedom https://t.co/zgqLj8Brsy

— Christiane Amanpour (@camanpour) November 23, 2016

Amanpour received an award Wednesday for “extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom” by the Committee to Protect Journalists.

LEARN MORE:  “We Tracked Down A Fake-News Creator In The Suburbs. Here’s What We Learned” by Laura Sydell at NPR