Did CNN’s Brian Stelter Help Make the Unsubstantiated Delta Video Go Viral By Retweeting It?
Earlier today, a video of riders getting kicked off of a Delta airplane for supposedly speaking Arabic went viral, having racked up nearly 400,000 retweets by time of this publication. However, it was soon realized that the man behind the video has a history of faking anti-Muslim incidents. Also, it appears that many of the passengers on the plane are disputing his story about speaking Arabic on a phone call.
Well, while the video was making the rounds early this morning, CNN’s senior media correspondent Brian Stelter retweeted it, noting that it has already been retwweted 75,000 times and was “gaining fast.”
75,000 retweets of this video in under 2 hours, and gaining fast https://t.co/AYpfBhTrEY
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 21, 2016
Stelter has over 400,000 followers and his tweet alone was reshared and liked hundreds of times, while also giving the clip tons of exposure due to his own high profile.
After the fact, former Mediaite columnist Joe Concha called out Stelter for sharing the video.
I'm not sure it's responsible to promote an unsubstantiated story with many Qs that may/may not be false regardless of motive for doing so. https://t.co/npeVjcQsNa
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) December 21, 2016
Stelter has used his program Reliable Sources to bring to light the dissemination of false stories. Recently, he urged viewers to “triple check” articles and posts before sharing. So, thus, it seems a bit ironic that he’d possibly be involved in potentially spreading a prank.
After retweeting the video, he did send out various tweets that showed there were now questions to the clip.
Delta's initial response to the video, citing a "disturbance in the cabin." Many unanswered Q's https://t.co/K9tc6zJ6kX
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 21, 2016
Logical end to 2016: prankster's video alleging discrimination goes viral.
"It's horrifying!"
"It's a HOAX!"
"It's real!"
"It's fake!"— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 21, 2016
We have reached out to Stelter and CNN for comment and will update the piece when we receive.
[image via screengrab]
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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona
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