CNN’s senior editor of Middle East affairs, Octavia Nasr, ended her career on Wednesday due to a controversial twitter comment.
After posting “sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah … One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot,” on her twitter account this weekend, Nasr met serious consequences, reported the BBC News.
Many people were offended by Nasr’s tweet since Fadlallah was strongly anti-American and also approved of suicide bombings. The post caused an “immediate, overwhelming reaction,” Nasr said in a blog post. CNN reacted immediately when they noticed the post.
“CNN regrets any offense her Twitter message caused. It did not meet CNN’s editorial standards. This is a serious matter and will be dealt with accordingly,” said CNN’s spokesman on Tuesday, reported the Guardian.
Later, Nasr did respond to her own tweet saying that “Regret tweet about Fadlallah death bc I didn’t explain specific respect for standing up for Muslim women,” on Twitter. She also called her post “an error of judgment,” and stated that she should not have tweeted about such a sensitive topic without being precise.
CNN did not take Nasr’s confession into consideration and asked her to resign from her position the following day, ending her 20-year employment at CNN.
Octavia Nasr has been in the news business for 25 years starting in 1985, according to her profile on CNN’s website. She has covered all major affairs in the Middle East since she began at CNN.
Ayatollah Fadlallah, the spiritual leader of Hezbollah, died on Monday, July 4th. He was very influential in the Middle East, both religiously and politically. Although he was well respected in Iraq, the U.S. considers Fadlallah a terrorist.
After posting “sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah … One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot,” on her twitter account this weekend, Nasr met serious consequences, reported the BBC News.
Many people were offended by Nasr’s tweet since Fadlallah was strongly anti-American and also approved of suicide bombings. The post caused an “immediate, overwhelming reaction,” Nasr said in a blog post. CNN reacted immediately when they noticed the post.
“CNN regrets any offense her Twitter message caused. It did not meet CNN’s editorial standards. This is a serious matter and will be dealt with accordingly,” said CNN’s spokesman on Tuesday, reported the Guardian.
Later, Nasr did respond to her own tweet saying that “Regret tweet about Fadlallah death bc I didn’t explain specific respect for standing up for Muslim women,” on Twitter. She also called her post “an error of judgment,” and stated that she should not have tweeted about such a sensitive topic without being precise.
CNN did not take Nasr’s confession into consideration and asked her to resign from her position the following day, ending her 20-year employment at CNN.
Octavia Nasr has been in the news business for 25 years starting in 1985, according to her profile on CNN’s website. She has covered all major affairs in the Middle East since she began at CNN.
Ayatollah Fadlallah, the spiritual leader of Hezbollah, died on Monday, July 4th. He was very influential in the Middle East, both religiously and politically. Although he was well respected in Iraq, the U.S. considers Fadlallah a terrorist.
