Did an off-camera director coach the CNN team on what to do while they were reporting from Israel near the Gaza border during an airstrike? No, that's not true: The team was in communication with the studio while filming, but they were not receiving theatrical directions. A satirical audio track was added to the CNN footage by the social commentary YouTube channel TheQuartering.
The 1:34-minute altered video (archived here) was posted on X (formerly Twitter) by @s_afreen7 on October 11, 2023 with the caption:
Fake attack on Israel for the camera is exposed by CNN.
Media propaganda got busted.
#Gaza #GazaUnderAttack #Palestine
This is what the post looked like on X at the time of writing:
The altered video was used as the opening segment in a longer podcast video posted to YouTube by TheQuartering on October 10, 2023. The video is titled:
CNN Busted FAKING Attack In Israel For The Camera! This Is INSANE & Appalling!
The satirical audio track added to the CNN video features a male voice giving directions to the CNN team on location near the Israel-Gaza border. In the first 38 seconds of this clip the man says:
Yeah, we're getting video through now Jerry. Now you can see the area's completely deserted but I want you to get 'em off the road and get 'em to lie down next to the road. OK. Closer to the road Jerry, move them -- it looks like you're in the middle of a forest. OK Jerry tell the cameraman to keep Clarissa in the shot, OK? It's not the Blair Witch Project. That's it, perfect, again, get nice and close. Get the camera in nice and close. Oh now look around Jerry, just look around as if you are in danger, try and look nice and scared yeah that's it, catching your breath. It's a bit scary over here with all the bombs going off and all that.
TheQuartering posted (pictured below) on X on October 10, 2023, under their original post of the altered clip and under the link to the YouTube podcast, that the voice-over isn't real.
The original 3:23-minute-long broadcast clip from October 9, 2023, on cnn.com is described:
CNN team ducks from 'massive barrage of rockets' near Israel-Gaza border
CNN's Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward and her team were forced to take shelter from rockets near the Israel-Gaza border.
This CNN footage was filmed just outside the town of Sderot, Israel, at the junction of highway 34 and 232. This is about two miles from the Gaza border. Sderot was one of the Israeli towns infiltrated by Hamas militants in the early morning surprise attack on October 7, 2023. A Reuters press photo shows some of the smoldering cars at that junction where there were many casualties that day.
Other Lead Stories articles on claims related to the 2023 Hamas-Israel conflict are here.
