{In a televised CNN report preceding President Obama\u2019s July trip to Kenya, the news network has referred to the East African country as a \u201chotbed of terror\u201d while highlighting the possibility of an attack by Al-Shaabab militants during the President\u2019s visit.}<\/p>\n
Kenyans were not amused by CNN\u2019s labeling and immediately took to social media to hurl insults and sarcastic humor at CNN under the hashtag #SomeoneTellCNN, which ended up trending onTwitter for a few days.<\/p>\n
But the Kenyan government took a more serious approach towards reprimanding CNN. Two weeks ago, the Kenyan Tourism Board, a state agency whose mission is to drive and support the effective marketing of Kenya\u2019s tourism products, said it was withdrawing advertising from the network in reaction to the \u201cmisrepresentation of the country\u2019s status.\u201d<\/p>\n
But on Thursday, Tony Maddox, CNN\u2019s global Executive Vice President andManaging Director, who oversees CNN\u2019s global editorial policy, flew all the way from Atlanta to Nairobi to personally apologize to President Uhuru Kenyatta and Kenyans.<\/p>\n
At a meeting in the State House in Nairobi, Maddox admitted that CNN\u2019s description of Kenya as a \u201chotbed of terror\u201d was both undeserved and ill-conceived.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe acknowledge there is a widespread feeling that the report annoyed many, which is why we pulled down the report as soon as we noticed. It wasn\u2019t a deliberate attempt to portray Kenya negatively, it is regrettable and we shouldn\u2019t have done it. There is a world at a war with extremists; we know what a hotbed of terror looks like, and Kenya isn\u2019t one,\u201d Maddox said.<\/p>\n
President Kenyatta, while expressing his disappointment at the story, urged CNN to stick to factual reporting and to show more responsibility in its delivery of security-related news about Kenya. <\/p>\n
He reiterated that the war on terror was a global threat, not exclusive to Kenya, and that the country was making remarkable strides in defeating its enemies. <\/p>\n
The President said that the CNN report made a mockery of the great sacrifices that Kenya\u2019s armed forces and other security personnel continually make to keep the country safe. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn one stroke, CNN\u2019s description of Kenya as a \u2018hotbed of terror\u2019 undermined the sacrifices made by our Kenyan troops, and the value of hundreds of lives lost, and relegated them to nothing. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s why Kenyans, as expressed by those on Twitter, were so angry. Kenya is nothing like the countries that have real war. There was no reason to portray Kenya in that way,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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