The Federal Government OF Nigeria have berated the Cable News Network (CNN) for prematurely celebrating a leaked report of the Lagos State\u00a0Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up after the Oct. 20, 2020 Lekki Toll Gate incidence in Lagos.<\/p>\n
At a media briefing on Tuesday in Abuja, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said CNN, a multinational news television channel was in a rush to vindication.<\/p>\n
The minister who disclosed the Federal Government position on the report said it is fake, riddled with so many errors and cannot be relied upon because its authenticity is in doubt.<\/p>\n
\u201cCNN\u00a0apparently didn\u2019t even read the report before rolling out the drums in\u00a0celebration. By that action, CNN has celebrated prematurely and has now committed a double faux pas: first, by relying on unverified social media stories and videos to carry out an investigation of the Oct. 20 2020 incident at Lekki, where it did not have a correspondent on ground. CNN goofed in its report on the findings of the panel, which fell below the main\u00a0standards of journalism\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSecondly, CNN rushed to the air to celebrate an unsigned and unverified report that is riddled with inconsistencies, errors, discrepancies and innuendoes. That\u2019s double faux pas by a news organisation that is eager and willing to compromise standards just to claim vindication,\u2019\u2019 he said\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister also berated some section of the Nigerian media which he said had also joined the lynch mob.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, in an attempt to vilify government at all costs, they have done themselves a great disservice. How can any news organisation worth its salt write an editorial validating this kind of report? Are they not seeing what others, including journalists and lawyers are seeing?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a shocking twist, a Nigerian newspaper chose to hail what it calls \u2018\u2019detailed investigative report\u2019\u2019 by CNN, even when the news channel did not even cover the incident of Oct. 20 2020! It\u2019s a classic case of cutting your nose to spite your face,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
Mohammed reiterated that there was nothing in the report in circulation that would make the government to change its stand that there was no massacre at Lekki on Oct. 20 2020.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Federal Government OF Nigeria have berated the Cable News Network (CNN) for prematurely celebrating a leaked report of the Lagos State\u00a0Judicial Panel of Inquiry set up after the Oct. 20, 2020 Lekki Toll Gate incidence in Lagos. At a media briefing on Tuesday in Abuja, the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national"],"yoast_head":"\n