CBS News came under sharp criticism from progressive politicians and commentators Monday after publishing a report highlighting deleted social media posts by Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed about the Sept. 11 attacks, with critics accusing the network of Islamophobia and attacking the framing of the story ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
“As the nation prepares to mark 25 years since Sept. 11, 2001, Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan, may be facing the risk of renewed scrutiny and fresh political attack,” CBS News wrote Monday.
The CBS report examined several social media posts that El-Sayed subsequently deleted. Among them were posts from 2020 in which he compared the nearly 3,000 Americans murdered in the Sept. 11 attacks with the number of people who died during the coronavirus pandemic.
The report also highlighted a Sept. 11, 2021, post previously uncovered by The Washington Free Beacon. El-Sayed wrote, “Today, I mourn the 3K lives, 6K injuries, & infrastructural devastation in NYC, perpetuated ignorantly in the name of my faith. Tomorrow, I’ll mourn ~1M lives, millions of injuries, & infrastructural devastation in 3 countries, perpetuated ignorantly in the name of my country.”
The decision to focus on El-Sayed’s past comments as the country approaches the anniversary of the terrorist attacks triggered an immediate backlash from his supporters and other liberal critics, many of whom objected to CBS News linking the Muslim candidate with 9/11 in the framing of its coverage.
“What an insane headline,” far-left commentator Hasan Piker reacted on X. “This is why the [new Paramount owner David Ellison] bought CBS and put Bari Weiss in charge.”
Weiss was named editor-in-chief of CBS News by Ellison last fall following Paramount’s multimillion-dollar acquisition of The Free Press, the media outlet she founded.
Zeteo founder and former MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan also attacked the network’s handling of the story, arguing that its framing was offensive toward El-Sayed as a Muslim candidate.
“Hi @CBS @CBSNews @bariweiss do you think it’s super offensive and disgusting and Islamophobic to do a tweet about the potential first ever Muslim Democratic senator which begins by referencing 9/11?” Hasan asked.
Tim Miller, host of a podcast at The Bulwark and an MS NOW analyst, similarly condemned the report.
“Despicable anti-Muslim woke right garbage from the house CBS account,” Miller wrote.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., joined the criticism, accusing the network of racism over the way the story was presented.
“What an insane, blatantly racist headline. Unreal,” Ansari posted.
Vox host and editorial director Astead Herndon used the controversy to voice broader concerns about public confidence in established news organizations.
“The current state of institutional media legit bums me out,” Herndon said. “We’ve burned through so much credibility in recent years. And our information ecosystem is worse for it.”
Despite the barrage of criticism, a CBS News source familiar with the report defended the decision to cover El-Sayed’s old posts. The source told Fox News Digital that news organizations publish stories about politicians deleting past social media comments “all the time.”
El-Sayed himself was questioned about the deleted posts by a local CBS News reporter while campaigning.
“What happened on 9/11 is a disaster. It was a terrible attack on our country,” El-Sayed said. “And our responsibility is also to think about, how do we build an America where we are protecting our servicemen and women from being asked to fight in wars we have no business fighting in?”
{Matzav.com}
