CNN Pictures Rumour : It's a Bum Rap

The story circulating by email that CNN's pictures of Palestinians celebrating the recent terrorist attacks on America are a hoax is itself bogus.

The claim that the pictures of the Palestinians were in fact 10-year-old archive footage was first made in a posting to the alternative news website Indymedia.org but has since been recanted by the original author of the post.

This hasn't stopped it being bounced around the world by email, says Russell Brown, presenter of the National Radio show Mediawatch.

"I'm even starting to get emails claiming the information came 'straight from the BBC'," says Brown. "I'm a big believer in the power of email, but in this case it's fostering a kind of global Chinese whispers. Whatever valid criticisms of CNN's coverage there may be, this isn't one.

"I was concerned to see the Sunday Star Times' TV reviewer Peter Hawes repeat the story as fact in yesterday's paper. I enjoy Hawes' writing, but he just has it wrong this time."

Links to background information on the CNN rumour and others that have sprung up since the attacks have been posted on the Mediawatch website at http://www.mediawatch.co.nz.

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