CNN host Brian Stelter slammed ABC News for showing a video of gunfire and explosions claiming it to be northern Syria under fire by the Turkish military that was actually footage from a Kentucky gun range.
The Washington Examiner reported that the video came from a filmed demonstration at the Knob Creek Gun Range in West Point, Kentucky. The footage shows a machine gun shooting wildly with explosions in the backdrop. Several other videos of the same demonstration can also be found online.
ABC aired the video twice last weekend before removing it. “We’ve taken down video that aired on World News Tonight Sunday and Good Morning America this morning that appeared to be from the Syrian border immediately after questions were raised about its accuracy,” a network representative said. “ABC News regrets the error.”
Stelter and guest panelists Elaina Plott and Erik Wemple agreed that ABC should offer a further explanation about how the video ended up on the air and mislabeled as footage from Syria. “ABC says it regrets the error but it has not explained what happened,” Stelter said.
The panelists noted the impact of sharing a fake news video while simultaneously criticizing Trump for spreading false information. “You cannot also be a purveyor of said misinformation if you feel your job is to call out the president of the United States,” Plott said.
