CNN’s top anchor Christiane Amanpour issued a public apology on her show on Monday for calling the murders of an Israeli mother and her daughters a “shootout,” following a 10-day campaign by HonestReporting that made waves around the world.
“On April 10, I referred to the murders of an Israeli family: Lucy, Maia and Rina Dee, the wife and daughters of Rabbi Leo Dee,” Amanpour said. “I misspoke and said they were killed in a ‘shootout’ instead of a shooting. I have written to Rabbi Leo Dee to apologize and make sure that he knows that we apologize for any further pain that may have caused him.”
On May 11, HonestReporting exposed an offensive throwaway comment by Amanpour during an interview with the Palestinian prime minister on her show the previous month.
According to Amanpour:
We have a young 15-year-old Palestinian boy who’s been shot and killed by security — Israeli security forces. We also have the mother of two sisters, Israeli British sisters. They were — they were killed in a shootout, and now the mother has died of her injury — injuries.
HonestReporting’s tweet calling for an apology, which included video footage of Amanpour saying that Lucy Dee and her daughters Maia and Rina “were killed in shootout,” has reached nearly a million views.
Upon seeing our expose, Lucy’s widower, Rabbi Leo Dee, issued a statement exclusively to HonestReporting, echoing our call for an immediate apology. That tweet has racked up a further 137,000 views, indicating significant public outrage at Amanpour and CNN.
It's been five days since we called on @amanpour to apologize for saying the Dee family were "killed in a shootout."
Neither she nor @CNN has responded.
Now, Rabbi Leo Dee has joined the demand: it's time for Christiane Amanpour to apologize immediately. https://t.co/8a6z5IRJ4p pic.twitter.com/HzpH4VNFVE
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 16, 2023
HonestReporting contacted CNN to demand a public apology.
A spokesperson for CNN subsequently informed us that Amanpour had written privately to Rabbi Dee, who confirmed to us that he had, indeed, received an email expressing heartfelt condolences and apologizing for the pain that her words had caused.
The CNN spokesperson, however, declined to discuss our call for a public apology, presumably considering the private message to Rabbi Dee to be the end of the matter. But we believe that when a significant error is made in any media, there is a professional and ethical imperative to publicly correct that error.
Amanpour’s show is regarded by CNN as its flagship global affairs interview program, as seen by millions, including on the PBS network.
Featured image: Emmanuele Contini/NurPhoto via Getty Images
