On Sunday, the CNN news organisation apologized for covering the massacre in a childcare center in Thailand that left 37 people, including 23 children, dead. CNN International’s executive vice president and general manager Mike McCarthy said that the organisation deeply regrets the distress or offense that the news report might have caused. He also stated that the organisation has stopped broadcasting the report and removed the massacre coverage video from its website.
This apology came after the Immigration Bureau withdrew the visas of the two CNN reporters and asked them to leave the country. Immigration Bureau deputy commissioner Achayon Kraithong stated that the two reporters had illegally attained access to the massacre site and covered the incident for a news report. He also said that the duo was on a tourist visa and was not eligible to work in the country.
CNN STATEMENT, 9 October 2022 pic.twitter.com/rTBTW3tVk1
— FCCThai (@FCCThai) October 9, 2022
The saga began last Thursday (October 6) when two CNN journalists identified as Anna Coren, 47, an Australian citizen, and cameraman Daniel Hodge, 34, a British national, illegally entered a daycare center of the Uthai Sawan Tambon Administration Organisation which was brutally attacked. The two were on tourist visas till November 19 and were not allowed to work in Thailand. However, the two trespassed the crime scene and covered the attack in which 24 children and 13 others were murdered.
Coren and Hodge could be seen jumping over the fence to enter the crime scene illegally to cover the incident. Reports mention that the journalists were denied entry into the daycare center but they managed to get the footage of the brutal massacre including blood stains inside the premises. The director at the Office of Uthai Sawan Municipality, Danaichok Boonsom, took cognizance of the event and filed a complaint to the police in response to CNN’s coverage.
“I want them to be respectful to us. They should not do whatever they want to do or only think about getting their ratings. Why do they have to do this? What is it for?”, he asked while talking to the media after filing the complaint. According to Boonsom, the people around the daycare were mourning over the loss of loved ones and the journalists did not care about anything around them but the news report. The journalists were then taken to the police station in Nong Bua Lam Phu province for questioning where they were also fined 5,000 baht each.
CNN reporter apologized for her actions
Reporter Anna Coren also apologized for her actions in a message directed to the Thailand citizens. “We know your country is going through a painful time and we never came here to cause more grief. My deepest apologies especially to the families of victims of this tragedy – we are so sorry to have caused you more pain and suffering”, she said. The Police further investigated the matter after several other local journalists criticized the duo for violating the ethics of journalism.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand and the Thai Journalists’ Association issued statements alleging that the two had breached journalistic ethics in crime reporting. “Would one of their crews have behaved in the same way at a serious crime scene in the United States”, the statement noted. Two Thai ministers also slammed the reporter and the cameraman for entering the crime scene without permission. However, the Thai Police during the investigation found out that the two accused were permitted by the local Health Department officials.
CNN said journalists entered the center ‘in good faith’ with permission
CNN, in the statement issued on October 9, also stated that the journalists were granted permission by the local health guards and that the team had entered the building to gain a fuller impression of what transpired inside and to humanize the scale of the tragedy. “Had they known that this was not sufficient, they would not have gone inside. We deeply regret any distress or offense our report may have caused, and for any inconvenience to the Thai police at such a distressing time for the country”, the official statement read.
It further argued that the reporters entered the center ‘in good faith’ with permission, despite subsequently learning that the authorities who granted them access lacked authority. Meanwhile, the Thai Journalists Association questioned the justification and said that even if permission was granted, the two should have exercised their judgment on the spot and avoided going inside. According to Immigration Bureau deputy commissioner Achayon Kraithong, the two journalists have not yet left the country.
Thai nursery massacre
Thirty-Seven people, primarily children, were murdered by a former police officer who opened fire and attacked people in a massacre that began at a preschool in Uthai Sawan. The shooter then drove away from the nursery, firing at passersby before returning home and shooting his wife, kid, and himself later. The event, which happened on Thursday, shocked Thailand and has also drawn international media attention.
