CNN attempted to do a little damage control on Tuesday after a post coddling two New York City terror suspects — both of whom swore allegiance to the Islamic State after being taken into custody — drew fierce criticism.
The post, which was deleted on Tuesday amid the backlash, read, “Two Pennsylvania teenagers crossed into New York City Saturday morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying the city during abnormally warm weather. But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs.”
The network was roundly mocked for characterizing the pair — one of whom said his goal had been to execute an attack more deadly than the Boston Marathon bombing that killed three in 2013 — as regular teenagers who’d just happened to pick Saturday to throw improvised explosive devices (IEDs) into a crowd of civilians.
“Classic Pennsylvania teenager behavior: throwing IEDs and pledging allegiance to ISIS. Boys will be boys!” The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles commented.
Classic Pennsylvania teenager behavior: throwing IEDs and pledging allegiance to ISIS. Boys will be boys! pic.twitter.com/KfcMFBXdxK
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) March 10, 2026
Senator Eric Schmitt (R-MO) added, “CNN got this headline wrong. It should be: ‘Two radical Islamic terrorists came to NYC pledging allegiance to ISIS with bombs meant to kill Americans’…There. Fixed it for you.”
“What on Earth? CNN acts like they were sightseeing and accidentally found some bombs. NO. They bought chemicals, made the bombs and went to NYC to commit a terrorist attack,” another comment said. “CNN is an unfunny version of the Onion designed to misinform.”
Another post from @honestreporting criticized the outlet for “infantilizing” the people who carry out violent crimes driven by ideology.
“Wow. ISIS-inspired perpetrators commit a literal terrorist act, and this is what CNN comes up with? Oh, those poor ‘Pennsylvania teenagers,’ whose lives have ‘drastically changed’ because they made the conscious decision to throw bombs. When will the media stop employing narrative storytelling to infantilize perpetrators of ideologically motivated crimes?”
After deleting the post, CNN attempted to explain it away with a follow-up: “A post regarding the two individuals arrested for throwing homemade bombs outside of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home failed to reflect the gravity of the incident thereby breaching the editorial standards we require for all our reporting. It has therefore been deleted.”
Edits were also made to the story itself, which had initially included the same descriptions of the perpetrators. The accompanying editor’s note read, “A previous version of this story included a summary that does not reflect the gravity of the incident, thereby breaching the editorial standards we require for all our reporting. It therefore has been changed.”
A post from Brian Stelter’s “Reliable Sources” newsletter conceded that the X post was problematic but claimed that “the story itself was solid” — but critics pointed out that the post had been lifted directly from the story.
This morning’s @ReliableSources newsletter has the context >>> https://t.co/v9NLjgs75l pic.twitter.com/S5pR7kirMB
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 10, 2026
“‘The story itself was solid. But the tweet was outrageous,'” Jerry Dunleavy quoted, adding, “The tweet in question ***was also the lede of the story*** before the article was stealth edited.”
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