CNN’s dildo-draped ISIS flag doozy Saturday has still gone unexplained by the network, as the network has ignored multiple requests for comment from TheWrap on how they mistook a gay pride flag with dildos and butt plugs for an ISIS flag.
But Vox.com’s Max Fisher thinks he’s cracked the case: the mishap is part of a larger pattern of overhyping terrorism threats to spike ratings.
“This was clearly their JV team making a flub,” he wrote. “But that flub was totally consistent with the network’s approach to terrorism, which for years has over-hyped threats, blasting viewers with hysterical warnings of imminent and omnipresent danger.”
The network’s terrorism coverage has gone beyond clumsy and irresponsible, entering “cynical” territory, Fisher argues.
“Exploiting people’s earnest fears and the bloodshed of real victims in order to create a more titillating TV viewing experience.”
One CNN insider told TheWrap this wasn’t overhyping–just a classic case of producers jumping the gun to be first and getting it wrong as a result. CNN hasn’t yet commented or corrected the error on-air.