Remember back in March, when CNN ran a piece by Mary Ilyushina praising Vladimir Putin and the Russian government for their brilliant COVID19 strategy?
Does Russia have coronavirus under control? According to information released by Russian officials, Putin's strategy seems to have worked. https://t.co/eWIulAXYnn
— CNN (@CNN) March 21, 2020
D.C. comms strategist Drew Holden hasn’t been able to get it out of his head. And today, he revisited CNN’s story — and shredded the hell out of it:
After re-reading it, I’ve determined that this piece by @maryilyushina for @CNN deserves its own thread.
This might be the worst reporting on the #coronavirus, and it demands accountability.
The headline is bad enough, but it get so, so much worse. https://t.co/gSbJtPAu5N pic.twitter.com/6mmrIMIwze
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
It starts by praising a murderous dictator, applauding Putin for handling the coronavirus well.
CNN’s Russia reporter/producer @maryilyushina trusts information coming out of Russia, concluding off the bat that “Putin’s strategy seems to have worked.” pic.twitter.com/fInYTk9ARD
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
So now we get into the specifics of the Russian propaganda.
To start, the article quotes @WHO (who have been disastrously bad on coronavirus and have a penchant for dictators) as saying that Russia has been a leader in testing. Plus they’ve been using social distancing. pic.twitter.com/8Y0MD7TibB
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
@maryilyushina then favorably compares the Russians to testing in the US. As evidence they site Rospotrebnadzor, calling it a “consumer watchdog.”
Rospotrebnadzor is Russia’s censorship unit. https://t.co/LZJTZ1cBU3 pic.twitter.com/SQqsbSYnLO
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
@maryilyushina goes on to discuss distrust of the govt among civilians, which she chalks up to “a legacy of its Soviet past,” which caused me to spit out my coffee.
She tiptoes around Russia’s massive & consistent disinformation attempts & propaganda. https://t.co/BzuwFKqgpO pic.twitter.com/tEDG2z2oEK
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
This, to describe Russia, is just rich. pic.twitter.com/Wun3EEt69Q
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
What @maryilyushina described here as “skepticism” can more rightly be called “an awareness of being lied to.”
The second screenshot says it all. pic.twitter.com/PJ1iIrL0Pr
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
This is where the piece takes a dark turn. pic.twitter.com/x4vcH5Rgmv
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
@maryilyushina goes on to discuss cover-up allegations which insist that Russia has far more cases than they’re reporting.
Reporting since – again, 10k cases a day – very strongly indicates this has been the case… pic.twitter.com/csKRDJPcwE
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
@maryilyushina goes on to provide the ‘evidence’ – citing an autocratic government and, ever their close ally, @WHO – that this isn’t the case. Screenshots below, including a quote from Putin.
The @WHO rep explicitly says he “do[es] not believe this [coverup] is happening.” pic.twitter.com/FGxDx5mS5g
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
Flash forward a month and a half. By all reporting – including CNN’s – this entire article was wrong. That happens in journalism. https://t.co/vunKjJOlFe
But in being wrong, @CNN and @maryilyushina pushed propaganda for an autocratic government. This is inexcusable.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
They faithfully reported what a dictator, Vladimir Putin, wanted the world to hear, as his government let thousands more civilians die.
America’s chief geopolitical enemy used a major US media outlet to distract from that and obfuscate the truth. And the @WHO was there to help.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
Absolutely damning thread.
Another excellent thread by @DrewHolden360, Keeper of Receipts and Scourge of Hypocrites. https://t.co/vahxq72rDw
— Shecky (@SheckyShabazzJr) May 6, 2020
Long, valuable thread on Russia & the virus. But it is mainly important for the gullibility of CNN's reporting – treating Russia as if its government statistics are reliable. You know – like China's. https://t.co/giJ6gG1uc4
— Jewish Policy Center (@thejpc) May 6, 2020
Drew is doing yoemans work for us all since the media is just going to continue to publish CCP and Russian propaganda. https://t.co/usF22ayRn8
— Gregg (@greekkid31) May 6, 2020
Heads should roll for this.
I’ll keep repeating this until I’m blue in the face:
❌Stop believing autocrats and despots.
❌Stop pushing their propaganda.
❌Stop using it as a cudgel to bash Trump.
❌Stop believing @WHO.— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
@CNN should retract this story and issue a full correction. And more importantly, they should get better. They should learn from this. It’s shameful.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) May 6, 2020
Join the conversation as a VIP Member