False Claims

After the high school shooting in Parkland, FL, there were many interviews with some of the people involved. One of the people who were interviewed was Colton Haab, a survivor of the school shooting. Haab's first claimed that "CNN had refused to allow him to ask a question at the town hall about arming teachers," and was given a scripted question, (Levine). He had an interview by Fox News where he asserted that CNN tried to stage the town hall meeting by making him ask a scripted question. Originally the boy's father presented emails the seemed to state CNN having interest in the boy reading a script. This story was soon dropped when more evidence came into light. Multiple news outlets covered the story as the events unfolded, two of which were Tampa Bay Times and The Wrap. CNN responded by stating they "did not provide or script questions for anyone," and provided copies of the emails sent to the boys father, which were different from the ones the father had originally presented (Levine). Later the father "acknowledged he omitted words in an email he sent media outlets accusing CNN," of providing his son with scripted questions, (Press). News outlets were quick to revoke their statements and stories about the situation after "news emerged that Haab's father had doctored the emails and removed key phrases that served to incriminate CNN," (Levine). [1 image, 2 links, 3 quotations, 231 words].