CNN took aim at a ‘fabricated, inaccurate’ viral video claiming war correspondent Clarissa Ward staged taking cover in a ditch.
Ward was forced to duck for cover earlier this week as a barrage of rockets flew overhead while she reported from near the Israel-Gaza border.
While the journalist was praised by many for bravely reporting from the front lines, a fictitious video parodied the moment and alleged she was faking the danger in front of the cameras.
‘The audio in the video posted and shared on X is fabricated, inaccurate and irresponsibly distorts the reality of the moment that was covered live on CNN, which people should watch in full for themselves on a trusted platform,’ a CNN spokesperson told the New York Post.
CNN’s Clarissa Ward conducted a live broadcast from a ditch near the border to the Gaza Strip after being forced to take cover amid rocket fire
The reporter described a ‘barrage’ of rocket fire over head just moments before she began the broadcast live from Israel
The footage of Ward rushing for cover was among numerous poignant moments captured by journalists on the ground since the conflict broke out a week ago, including Fox News’ Trey Yingst reporting from inside Israel’s ‘house of horrors.’
Ward, along with several members of her team in bullet proof vests, scrambled into a ditch by the side of a road seconds after hearing rockets overhead.
She was seen with her face down in the ditch as a man on her team indicated the rockets were being stopped by Israel’s ‘Iron Dome’.
The iron dome is Israel’s land-based defense system which intercepts rockets and mortars.
‘Get down! Close, close, close,’ the man said. ‘You’re fine, you’re okay… that’s the Iron Dome.’
Addressing her news anchor, Ward says: ‘Forgive the inelegant position but we have just had a massive barrage of rockets coming in here not too far from us, so we have had to take shelter here by the roadside.’
‘We are just about five minutes away, Gaza is in that direction. We can hear now a lot of jets in the sky we can also hear the iron dome intercepting a number of those rockets as they were whizzing overhead and making impact.’
Ward added that the location was ‘ground zero’ for the Hamas militia where terrorist fighters were ‘spraying lead’ from a pickup truck down the street.
But Ward’s reporting was parodied by The Quartering, which brands itself a ‘news and content organization’ but admitted it used fake audio dubbed over Ward’s original footage.
In the fake footage, which has been viewed over five million times on X (formerly Twitter), audio intended to sound like a CNN producer began: ‘Yeah, we can see the area is completely deserted but I want you to get them off the road.’
‘Get them to lay down next to the road, okay?’ the voice adds, as one of Ward’s team members was seen on a phone call.
The footage continues to joke about the situation, including instructing Ward to look ‘nice and scared’ for the cameras.
In a follow up tweet, the fake news account admitted that ‘yes of course the voice over isn’t real’, but insisted that Ward’s ‘fake acting IS real.’
Despite the audio clearly being manipulated, with Snopes the first to debunk it, the video was circulated widely with many viewers seeming to believe it to be legitimate.
‘Merkava’ battle tanks muster today at a gathering site at an undisclosed location along the border with Gaza
The fake video row comes as the conflict in the Middle East escalates into the weekend, with Israel readying a significant ground onslaught after bombarding the Gaza Strip in retaliation to Hamas’ attack a week ago.
Israel has warned upwards of one million residents to flee the region, leading fleeing Palestinians to desperately try and escape.
The war-torn region was given a 24-hour deadline to escape to the south of the territory, which was then extended as Gazans try to flee via two main roads out of the area.
Hamas terrorists have urged civilians to ignore the evacuation order and some are refusing to leave, with Mahmoud Shalabi – director of Medical Aid for Palestinians – saying ‘no place was safe in Gaza’ and he hoped to ‘die with dignity’.
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