Cable News Network (CNN) has apologized for calling Kenya a “hotbed of terror” in a news item it aired.
CNN’s Global Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Tony Maddox yesterday flew to State House- Nairobi and made the apology to President Uhuru Kenyatta.
The apology comes weeks after the network received the wrath on Kenyans via a major backlash on social media, especially on twitter under the hashtag -#someonetellcnn.
See: KOT Infuriated over CNN’s Depiction of Kenya
CNN had made the description just days before US President Barack Obama flew to Kenya to co-host the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, in a story done on the pending visit.
During the visit, Maddox admitted that the description of Kenya as a “hotbed of terror” was both ill fitting and undeserved.
President Kenyatta expressed deep disappointment at the story which had greatly angered Kenyans, adding that the war on terror was a global threat, not exclusive to Kenya, and that Kenya’s troops and her people have made great sacrifices and still do, to keep Kenya and the region safe.
He rebuked the network for the careless remark, explaining that in one stroke, CNN’s description of Kenya as a ‘hotbed of terror’ undermined the sacrifices made by Kenyan troops, and the value of hundreds of lives lost, and relegated them to nothing.
Yesterday, the matter of CNN's description of Kenya trended on twitter under the hashtag - #UhuruTellsCNN as President Kenyatta sought to let Kenyans on Twitter (KOT) know what had transpired during the talk at State House.
