CNN Apologizes to WikiLeaks’ Assange After Contributor Calls Him a Pedophile

An intelligence expert paid by CNN gossiped on air that WikiLeaks' Julian Assange is a "pedophile" who is "not credible." When WikiLeaks threatened a defamation lawsuit, the news network issued an embarrassing apology indicating that "in fact, CNN has no evidence to support that assertion."

Check out the video of former CIA, FBI, and White House National Security Council analyst Phil Mudd lying, because that, apparently, is what he is paid by CNN to do.

Phil Mudd, former analyst with the CIA, FBI, and White House National Security Council, "regrets saying it," according to a statement from the network.

— New Day (@NewDay) January 4, 2017

​Assange has been much maligned in dominant media narratives, despite his exposure of war crimes, US spying on its own citizens, and much more. Of course, it must be noted that CNN is in the ratings business, not the truth business. This scandal is just the latest in a string of false reporting.

On Tuesday, CNN used footage from video game Fallout 4 to display Russia ‘hacking’ US ballot boxes. CNN was propagating its own fake news, despite driving ratings by accusing other outlets of the same practice.

As Glenn Greenwald noted in The Intercept, "those who most flamboyantly denounce Fake News" are "often the most aggressive and self-serving perpetrators of it."

After Assange told Fox News’ Sean Hannity that US media coverage is "very dishonest,' President-elect Donald Trump took to Twitter to reiterate the point that it is "more dishonest than anyone knows."

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 4, 2017