<p>Is this an apple or a banana? That&#8217;s the question we&#8217;re all asking after two CNN reporters fell for an obvious photoshop showing a Tunisian being hoisted into the air by protesters while appearing to hold a chainsaw.</p>
<p>It was an obvious photoshop. Ben Wedeman, CNN&#8217;s senior international correspondent, first tweeted the image.</p>
<p>&#8220;The [sic] IS the shot of the day as Tunisians, who managed to preserve their revolution against tyranny, protest the upcoming visit of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Saudi?src=hash">#Saudi</a> Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Khashoggi?src=hash">#Khashoggi</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tunisia?src=hash">#Tunisia</a>,&#8221; Wedeman tweeted.</p>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p>The IS the shot of the day as Tunisians, who managed to preserve their revolution against tyranny, protest the upcoming visit of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Saudi?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Saudi</a> Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Khashoggi?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Khashoggi</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tunisia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tunisia</a> <a href="https://t.co/2VlYAWZPCp">pic.twitter.com/2VlYAWZPCp</a></p>
<p>&#8212; benwedeman (@bencnn) <a href="https://twitter.com/bencnn/status/1067150751741415436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>The tweet is still up, for now. It&#8217;s such an obvious photoshop that one might wonder whether Wedeman knew this when he shared the image.</p>
<p>But it appears CNN&#8217;s chief national security correspondent, Jim Sciutto, was unaware of the fake, as he retweeted Wedeman&#8217;s tweet, adding &#8220;wow.&#8221; Sciutto has since deleted his tweet without explanation after leaving it up for an hour.</p>
<p>As The Daily Caller&#8217;s Peter J. Hasson noted, the image <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jasmine-revolution-tunisia-anniversary_us_56993211e4b0b4eb759e367c">is actually from 2011</a> and contained no chainsaw &#8212; it was a small cage with a Tunisian flag on it.</p>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p>Uhhhhh<br />
1) The original photo is seven years old: <a href="https://t.co/RrfOV9lB0j">https://t.co/RrfOV9lB0j</a><br />
2) That chainsaw is an embarrassingly obvious photoshop <a href="https://t.co/IsGKYrMTCu">pic.twitter.com/IsGKYrMTCu</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) <a href="https://twitter.com/peterjhasson/status/1067178187044659201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>The left-leaning media has gone all in against Saudi Arabia after Saudi national Jamal Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Khashoggi occasionally wrote op-eds for The Washington Post, and therefore has received martyr status by the U.S. media, despite the fact that he&#8217;s not a citizen and sympathized with the Muslim Brotherhood, a terrorist organization (though not designated by the U.S. government as such).</p>
<p>President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/statement-president-donald-j-trump-standing-saudi-arabia/">released a statement</a> on November 20 saying the U.S. would not end its relationship with Saudi Arabia over the death of one man. This, naturally, angered U.S. media outlets that already hate Trump even more. Left-leaning outlets have already pounced on any information that made Saudi Arabia look bad, leading to retractions. In October, Reuters <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/37231/literal-fake-news-reuters-pulls-article-after-ashe-schow">had to retract an article</a> claiming the Saudi consul in Istanbul was fired and being investigated after it fell for a fake news website modeled to look like an old version of the Saudi online newspaper Sabq.</p>
<p>As always, these mistakes always seem to favor one side.</p>
<p>At least we&#8217;ll get some more decent photoshops out of the episode.</p>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<p>I can&#8217;t stop. <a href="https://t.co/V7oYjpE1Lu">pic.twitter.com/V7oYjpE1Lu</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Johnny Catsh (@John_C_Catsh) <a href="https://twitter.com/John_C_Catsh/status/1067199850943516673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p><a href="https://t.co/NsFfWSwxaH">pic.twitter.com/NsFfWSwxaH</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Johnny Catsh (@John_C_Catsh) <a href="https://twitter.com/John_C_Catsh/status/1067195591967588352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<p>They love <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PBJ?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PBJ</a>, too. <a href="https://t.co/Gnf39X9rGJ">pic.twitter.com/Gnf39X9rGJ</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Johnny Catsh (@John_C_Catsh) <a href="https://twitter.com/John_C_Catsh/status/1067188397276635136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
<p>Whoa&#8230; <a href="https://t.co/VNzW2U0cwJ">pic.twitter.com/VNzW2U0cwJ</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) <a href="https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1067181686872453121?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 26, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck">
<p>The IS the shot of the day as Tunisians, who managed to preserve their revolution against tyranny, protest the upcoming visit of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Saudi?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Saudi</a> Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Khashoggi?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Khashoggi</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Tunisia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Tunisia</a> <a href="https://t.co/ix93Rrm1Z6">pic.twitter.com/ix93Rrm1Z6</a></p>
<p>&#8212; John Ekdahl (@JohnEkdahl) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnEkdahl/status/1067210825889456128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 27, 2018</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p><em>This article has been updated with additional tweets.</em></p>


WHOOPS: CNN Reporters Fall For Obvious Photoshop In Attempt To Smear Saudi Arabia

Donald Trump

Fake News

Jamal Khashoggi

Jim Sciutto

Media Bias

<p>&#8220;Sovereignty, that&#8217;s a loaded term,&#8221; said CNN&#8217;s Jim Sciutto on Tuesday&#8217;s <em>CNN Tonight</em>, commenting on President Donald Trump&#8217;s references to national and state sovereignty during a Tuesday address at the United Nations.</p>
<p>Sciutto was joined by <em>The New Yorker</em>&#8217;s Robin Wright in deriding sovereignty as an archaic value in the contemporary period.</p>
<p>&#8220;Sovereignty,&#8221; said Sciutto, &#8220;is a term cynically deployed by authoritarian states to shield themselves from foreign criticisms.&#8221;</p>
<p>Partial transcript below.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>WRIGHT: What was kind of curious about the whole speech was that it went in counter to almost every major trend of the 21st century. This is a moment of globalization and connection, and [Donald Trump] was talking about, &#8220;We need greater sovereignty,&#8221; as if we&#8217;re all threatened. As if every country needs borders to cut them off from the rest of the world, and that&#8217;s the only way to provide security.</p>
<p>And I think this is what&#8217;s so shocking to so many people; coming together at the United Nations, this institution built in the aftermath of World War II, to try to find means of preventing conflict and working together. And the president was in some ways saying, &#8220;The world be damned. We are going to act in our own interests, you act in your interests,&#8221; and it&#8217;s not an issue of values or democracy, it wasn&#8217;t a picture speech, it was very focused, and it was in many ways not just a Trump doctrine, it was a Trump war doctrine. Whether it was threatening the North Koreans on the verge of talking about regime change in Iran, it was critical of Russia and China, threatening military action in Venezuela, this had an aggressive undertone throughout. &#8230;</p>
<p>SCIUTTO This idea of sovereignty, that&#8217;s a loaded term. This is a favorite expression of authoritarian leaders from China to Russia to African dictatorships. It&#8217;s about, &#8220;We all have different values. Don&#8217;t preach to me about human rights.&#8221; You&#8217;ve often heard that kind of rhetoric pushing back at America saying, &#8220;Democracy, open society is the way forward.&#8221;</p>
<p>So to hear an American president, that&#8217;s a real departure from the public comments [of previous presidents], and really a tenet of US foreign policy &#8212; Democrat and Republican &#8212; for decades about, not just the U.S. as a democratic example, but supporting democracy abroad.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Watch Wright&#8217;s and Sciutto&#8217;s comments below.</p>
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pjk9jw-ii3g" width="640"></iframe></div>
</p>
<p>Sovereignty has been the pillar of international relations since the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, with earlier iterations across previous times and in other regions. Undergraduate students studying politics typically learn this concept in their first year of university or college study.</p>
<p>Democrats and the broader left essentially oppose national and state sovereignty in pursuit of international centralization of power. Communist ideology prescribes and foresees international global governance and the destruction of nations and states in pursuit of a singular unification of humanity; national and state sovereignty are incrementally eroded toward this end.</p>
<p>Leftists leverage international organizations such as the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank to erode national and state sovereignty in pursuit of further convergence of global governance.</p>
<p>Sciutto is CNN&#8217;s chief national security correspondent, focusing on foreign affairs and international relations.</p>
<p>CNN markets itself as &#8220;The Most Trusted Name In News.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.</em></p>


WATCH: CNN&#8217;s Sciutto&#8217;s Anti-American Take On &#8216;Sovereignty&#8217;

Don Lemon

Foreign Policy

Globalism

Media

United Nations

<p>&#8220;There will be questions if what happened in Barcelona was at all a copycat version of what happened in Charlottesville,&#8221; said CNN&#8217;s Wolf Blitzer on Thursday.</p>
<p>Speaking with CNN colleague Jim Sciutto, Blitzer drew a tentative connection between today&#8217;s Islamic terrorist attack in Barcelona, Spain, and the previous weekend&#8217;s unrest in Charlottesville, VA; the latter including the killing of a 32-year-old woman after being struck by a vehicle operated by a &#8220;Unite the Right&#8221; rally attendee.</p>
<p>Listen to Blitzer&#8217;s comments below.</p>
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe allowfullscreen frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yWnoEsSv1o8" width="640"></iframe></div>
<p>Partial transcript below.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>SCIUTTO: The final point I would make, Wolf, is just this, in light of the uproar of the last couple of days, five days apart you have a white supremacist in Charlottesville using a vehicle to kill, and here you have attackers at least following the modus operandi of terrorists using vehicles apparently to kill, as well. The shared tactics should be alarming.</p>
<p>BLITZER: Yeah, there will be questions about copycats. There will be questions if what happened in Barcelona was at all a copycat version of what happened in Charlottesville. Virginia. Even though they may be different characters [with] different political ambitions. They used the same killing device, a vehicle going at high speed into a large group of pedestrians. </p>
</blockquote>
<p><em>H/T Allahpundit at <a href="http://hotair.com/archives/2017/08/17/wolf-blitzer-people-will-ask-barcelona-terror-attack-copycat-charlottesville/">Hot Air</a>.</em></p>
<p>
<em>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.</em></p>


WATCH: CNN&#8217;s Blitzer Says Barcelona Might Have Been Charlottesville Copycat

</p>
<p>The afGov. John Kasich (R-OH) sang the praises of America&#8217;s news media landscape in a <a href="http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1702/19/sotu.01.html">Sunday interview</a> with CNN&#8217;s Jim Sciutto , saying, &#8220;I have great respect for the press.&#8221;</p>
</p>
<p>Invited by Sciutto to join Sen. John McCain&#8217;s <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-mccain-idUSKBN15Y07R">description</a> of President Donald Trump&#8217;s criticisms of news media outlets as dictatorial, Kasich spoke of applause he received from the press:</p>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>&#8220;What I have said to the press in Ohio and around the country and here in Munich is, thank God you&#8217;re there. You&#8217;re there that have to &#8212; to hold people accountable.</p>
</p>
<p>And without a free press &#8212; well, we&#8217;re going to have a free press. And while I don&#8217;t always agree with the reporting of the press, they are vital. They are really such an important part of democracy.</p>
</p>
<p>And when I met just recently with press all across the state of Ohio, some that are very critical of me, when I walked into the room, they applauded me. And I got on the stage and I said, I applaud you for following the facts and reporting a story even at times when it is not easy. </p>
</p>
<p>I have great respect for the press. I was once in the press. The key, though, is not to be oversensationalizing everything, but get to the facts. Let the investigation of the press go where it wants. Tell the story. </p>
</p>
<p>That&#8217;s a part of America. And it&#8217;s a part of an institution that works to make sure that things have balance.&#8221;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>At no point did Kasich comment on widespread left-wing or partisan Democrat biases across the news media landscape or the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Left-Turn-Liberal-Distorts-American/dp/1250002761">impact of such biases</a> in bending American public opinion.</p>
</p>
<p>Left-wing and Democrat-aligned news media outlets and their allies have recently described Trump&#8217;s criticisms of various news media outlets&#8217; conduct as a broad undermining of the First Amendment, conflating such criticisms with moves to subvert constitutional protections for a free press.</p>
<p>
 </p>
<div class="embed video fluid-video">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p>The president of the United States is using a campaign rally to attack the free press. Democracy itself is under threat.</p>
<p>&#8212; Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) <a href="https://twitter.com/Olivianuzzi/status/833086911744966662">February 18, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>
 </p>
<div class="embed video fluid-video">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p>Democracy requires a <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FreePress?src=hash">#FreePress</a>. Don&#8217;t let <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump">@realDonaldTrump</a>, President Bannon, or any other wannabe dictator tell you otherwise.</p>
<p>&#8212; Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) <a href="https://twitter.com/laurenduca/status/833359194761879552">February 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>
 </p>
<div class="embed video fluid-video">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p>Enemy of the people? No. A free press is a big part of what makes America great. My closing essay on <a href="https://twitter.com/ThisWeekABC">@ThisWeekABC</a> &#8212; <a href="https://t.co/MKNFA3T9D0">https://t.co/MKNFA3T9D0</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) <a href="https://twitter.com/jonkarl/status/833335504116531200">February 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>
 </p>
<div class="embed video fluid-video">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p>The indispensable role of a free press in a free society&#8212;Thomas Jefferson, 1787: <a href="https://t.co/PZeabACX4k">pic.twitter.com/PZeabACX4k</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Yoni Appelbaum (@YAppelbaum) <a href="https://twitter.com/YAppelbaum/status/833106682544799744">February 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>
 </p>
<div class="embed video fluid-video">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p>Amen. <a href="https://t.co/t1kjAoWv4j">https://t.co/t1kjAoWv4j</a></p>
<p>&#8212; Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) <a href="https://twitter.com/JoeNBC/status/833108624981491712">February 19, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>
 </p>
<div class="embed video fluid-video">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p>A free press is the bedrock of our democracy. We can&#8217;t lose sight of that, no matter what the administration is saying.</p>
<p>&#8212; Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/832979974877483008">February 18, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>
 </p>
<div class="embed video fluid-video">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
<p>Today&#8217;s <a href="https://twitter.com/washingtonpost">@washingtonpost</a> &amp;<a href="https://twitter.com/nytimes">@nytimes</a> front pages proof of value of great journalism. Free press always important. Now more than ever.</p>
<p>&#8212; Mike Barnicle (@mikebarnicle) <a href="https://twitter.com/mikebarnicle/status/831902387623325697">February 15, 2017</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
<p>Despite fashioning themselves as defenders of the First Amendment, left-wing and Democrat-aligned news media outlets essentially ignored unanimous support among Senate Democrats to <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CRPT-113srpt223/pdf/CRPT-113srpt223.pdf">rewrite the First Amendment</a> in 2014 via constitutional amendment to empower Congress to restrict people and corporations from &#8220;spending money to influence elections.&#8221;</p>
<p><em>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.</em></p>
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RlUc7BaFamM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>


Kasich To Media: &#8216;Thank God You&#8217;re There&#8230; To Hold People Accountable&#8217;

First Amendment

Free Speech

John Kasich

State of the Union

<p>Left-wing CNN Democrats Jake Tapper and Jim Sciutto pushed the narrative of President Donald Trump as irresponsible for supposedly not having consulted the &#8220;career staff&#8221; of the National Counterterrorism Center and Department of Homeland Security prior to the recent issuance of an executive order to largely restrict admission of foreigners from seven Muslim-majority countries.</p>
</p>
<p>Partial transcript below:</p>
</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Tapper: &#8220;Jim, the executive order was signed at 4:42 on Friday. It took effect immediately. Who was consulted on this before that?&#8221;</p>
</p>
<p>Sciutto: &#8220;Well, not the principal agencies responsible for protecting the homeland from terror threats. We know that retired General John Kelly, the Department of Homeland Security secretary &#8211; he received the final details only on Friday. Same true for the career staff at the National Counterterrorism center, also not consulted in the decision-making process on this, which raises questions, and we&#8217;ve seen the problems already about implementation. If you don&#8217;t have the actual officers out there and agencies responsible for taking people into the country knowing the details, that&#8217;s led to some of the problems we&#8217;ve seen at airports home and abroad. But also raises questions about the rationale, if the two primary agencies responsible for protecting the homeland from terror threats weren&#8217;t part of the decision-making process, what was the rationale behind this move?&#8221;</p>
</p>
<p>Tapper: &#8220;Now Jim, I have some reporting this morning. Sources are telling me that White House policy director Stephen Miller told government officials yesterday that the American people are firmly behind this executive order and not to be distracted by the hysterical voice on television, that&#8217;s how he put it.&#8221;</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Tapper and Sciutto then described <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/01/29/national-security-council-stephen-bannon-presidential-memo/97210776/">Trump&#8217;s placement of Stephen Bannon</a> &#8211; described as &#8220;such a partisan political figure&#8221; on the National Security Council (NSC) as &#8220;odd&#8221; and &#8220;unprecedented.&#8221; Former President Barack Obama&#8217;s NSC staff <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2017/01/17/reflecting-nscs-greatest-asset-its-people-0">included</a> former Vice-President Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Leon Panetta, Rahm Emanuel, and Susan Rice.</p>
</p>
<p>Neither Tapper nor Sciutto have ever questioned Obama&#8217;s issuance of executive orders with implied critiques of a lack of consultation with federal agencies.</p>
<p>A chyron during the segment declared: &#8220;TRUMP ORDER CAUSES CONFUSION WITHIN GOVERNMENT&#8221;</p>
<p>Tapper and Sciutto both present themselves as objective and nonpartisan reporters.</p>
<p><em>Follow Robert Kraychik on <a href="https://twitter.com/kr3ch3k">Twitter</a>.</em></p>
<div class="embed video fluid-video"><iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c4WitvzVldg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>


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Jim Sciutto

Articles tagged with Jim Sciutto

WHOOPS: CNN Reporters Fall For Obvious Photoshop In Attempt To Smear Saudi Arabia

WATCH: CNN’s Sciutto’s Anti-American Take On ‘Sovereignty’

WATCH: CNN’s Blitzer Says Barcelona Might Have Been Charlottesville Copycat

Kasich To Media: ‘Thank God You’re There… To Hold People Accountable’

CNN Frets: Trump Didn’t ‘Consult’ Agencies Before EO