Thread by @Qnie_Addis

Thread

Nima’s Salamander Tale

Investigative Journalism is Dead, Long Live Investigative Journalism!

1/ On September 5, @CNN came out with a piece of 'Investigative Journalism' by one @nimaelbagir. Even by @CNN's low standards this article was atrocious, to say the least.

Many Ethiopians including me took to SM to expose CNN’s latest debacle. To put it mildly, the story was dead on arrival!👇
[Humera Massacre Debunked – I]

https://twitter.com/Qnie_Addis/status/1434526643255750656?s=20

[Humera Massacre Debunked – II]

https://twitter.com/Qnie_Addis/status/1434853035101073413?s=20

2/ Now, this #Ethiopian army of Tweeter sleuths (@EthioCyberia, @Eliezer, @NbaAddict & others) have exposed that the story had been revised quietly [silent-edited]on Sept 8.

3/ As noted at the time👇, the revisions actually made matters worse by exposing Nima’s star witness as a fraud while taking down @berhe_lucy’s sad excuse of journalism in one fell swoop.

[Humera Massacre Debunked - III]

https://twitter.com/Qnie_Addis/status/1435745779151515648?s=20

A host of other questions are raised by the revision [courtesy of @EliezerAbate]
- Why did experts who wanted to remain unnamed due to security concerns just suddenly decide -- just three days later -- to be identified by name?

- The experts testify that all "bodies had been exposed to some form of chemical agent" ... three days later "the experts said it was impossible to state definitively at this point whether that preservation occurred naturally.

- In the original article, @nimaelbagir said, "this state of preservation makes it easier to identify the marks on the bodies and what could have caused them" (she completely removed this line). On the new article this magically turned into "limited areas of decomposition"

4/ In the following days, @CNN, in a campaign of damage limitation tried to save the story by associating it with @jaketapper & @LyndaKinkade . Kinkade, who thought Tigray was in Nigeria tried to vouch for Nima, who thought Lucy was in Ethiopia…the whole thing was so farcical!!

5/ Obviously, the right thing to do is to apologize. Unfortunately, my suspicion is that Nima’s/CNN’s pride has been wounded & that they are working with the Tigray-Hamdayet-TMH nodes to come up with a better story for next time. Nima’s Salamander Tale continues regenerating!

6/ The only way they can do this is to make sure that the next batch of bodies is either chemical free or make the forensic 'reports' chemical free. Gerri would be replaced by another cast member (no baseball hat this time around).....

....The bodies would be of younger kids and women. They would have identifying cards or photographs on their person. The story would include someone, preferably a woman, who would swear that the body belongs to someone she knows, preferably someone very close to her.

7/ @CNN is using the ‘Genocide’ narrative perfected by #TPLF, in its effort to demonize #Ethiopia and help rehabilitate #TPLF. CNN is perpetuating this narrative at the expense of millions of #Ethiopians who will be living as neighbors whatever the outcome of the conflict.

All the blood that will be shed in retribution and counter retribution between the people of Tigray and Amhara is on CNN’s hands! It is on Nima’s hands!
#BloodOnYourHandsCNN
#BloodOnYourHandsNima

@HermelaTV @BTnewsroom @EugenePuryear @RaniaKhalek @AnnGarrison @BenjaminNorton @MaxBlumenthal @rcoreyb @laralogan