We all understand that the field of “horrendous news reports” from our modern media is a competitive one, with each outlet apparently engaged in an epic battle to see who is just the absolute worst. But surely none of them can come close to CNN, who took to social media in their absurd attempt to report on two ISIS terrorists who threw improvised explosive devices at law enforcement and anti-Mamdani protesters in New York City:

“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 during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home. Here’s what we know so far…”

Remember: Someone employed by CNN actually sat down and wrote that and was happy enough to pass it up the chain to someone else (also employed by CNN) who read it, liked it and published it. After the predictable backlash, CNN hastily deleted the post hours later with the following explanation:

“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.”

The only real news here is that CNN had any editorial standards to begin with.

While it’s fun to tear into CNN for having to delete its own coverage, it’s also crucially important to understand why the original post — and even the follow-up post — was so deeply problematic. It’s not that a report on an attempted Islamic terrorist attack in New York City began with details of the “abnormally warm weather,” or even the vague nature of “throwing homemade bombs during an anti-Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home,” which thereby left readers free to assume, perhaps deliberately, that the bomb-throwers were part of the anti-Muslim protest and not targeting the protest.

No, the problem here is one that has been prevalent throughout the Western media for decades: a soft bigotry of low expectations when it comes to Islamic terror, in which radical Muslims — hellbent on committing acts of murder, barbarity and carnage — don’t have complete agency over their decisions. It’s as if these “teenagers” — aged 18 and 19, making them legal adults — left Pennsylvania and had no choice but to start throwing homemade bombs!

Moreover, why is the focus of the report the experience of the perpetrators — with “their lives” changing “dramatically” as if they were mere spectators — rather than the focus being the would-be victims who narrowly escaped death?

Consider the response to a darkly satirical equivalent report following the attacks of Sept. 11, in which “19 men from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Lebanon boarded planes one September morning for what could’ve been a normal day enjoying a cross-country flight. But in less than an hour, their lives would drastically change.” Somehow, 2001 was a less insane time.

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