‘Fake News’ Claims That CNN Used Same ‘Crisis Actor’ Girl In 3 Different Photos Of Refugee Rescue Are Hoax [Debunked]
The refugee crisis is very real, as witnessed in the above Associated Press photo, which shows a mother from Syria using a cooking pot to transport her infant girl at the Ritsona refugee camp located north of Athens. According to the photo’s description, that event occurred on Wednesday, October 12. Approximately 600 people lived at the refugee camp, with plans to replace the tents with prefabricated homes. Births are traumatizing, reports the Guardian. However, according to the thinking of some conspiracy theorists on the web, that baby girl may as well be a “crisis actor,” a term that has floated around the Internet by folks who believe some suffering folks aren’t real people — but actors placed in certain situations to elicit emotions of empathy.
You know it’s #fakenews when CNN uses the same girl in 3 different Refugee Crisis pictures, saved by 3 different men. #Pathetic pic.twitter.com/Rvo4YW6TIE
— Aric Cee (@AricCee) December 25, 2016
According to Snopes, such was the case of one refugee girl who was captured in at least three different photos, shown being carried by three different rescuers or family members. After a meme spread around social media, with the headline “When CNN uses the same girl in three different refugee crisis pictures being saved by three different men,” some folks used the meme to try and bolster the theory that CNN creates fake news. However, Snopes debunked the tweet from the Twitter account of Aric Cee, which was published on Christmas Day — and has been retweeted more than 10,000 times and has received nearly 7,000 likes since that time.
The fake news claims began when the photos of the same girl being carried by rescuers were placed together in the meme, along with accusations that the little girl was some sort of “crisis actor” placed in the photos for nefarious purposes. The conspiracy theorists claimed to have “caught” CNN in a lie as if the network had some casting agent hire a little girl and cast her in a refugee crisis role in Aleppo. The little girl wore the same clothing in each photo. The conspiracy theorists claimed that the network’s goal was to make up just how bad the situation in Syria was, and it wasn’t the first time that the charges of a “crisis actor” had been debunked by Snopes.
The photos of the little girl were actually taken, as reported by NBC News, after a bomb went off at a funeral in Aleppo, Syria, in August.
The following photo also shows destruction and devastation at the Aleppo Media Center (AMC), after bombs were dropped in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday, August 27, according to the Associated Press description of the photo — with Syrian activists claiming 15 civilians were killed in the bombing at a wake for children who had died in earlier bombings in rebel-held Aleppo.
However, these facts haven’t stopped the claims “crisis actor” from being used by people on Twitter in a variety of circumstances, as a response to certain news reports that they claim are fake news. Some of the charges about a “crisis actor” being used in certain situations can be read in the comments below from sample social media postings.
CyBu: “Dear CNN, please spring for a new crisis actor, you f****** idiots! smdh
#CommunistPropagandaPushers”5 Smooth Stones: “Crisis actor trying to legitimize CNN reporting
#CNNFail”Sloop Jon B: “This is just one of the many reasons I hate ‘Crisis Actor’ conspiracy theorists. They are truly dumb.”
Hugo the Buck: “The photographer followed the girl as she was passed from helper to helper at the same bombing in august. She’s not a ‘crisis actor’.”
Elicia Curtin: “CNN Crisis Actor Caught AGAIN — 4th Time!”
[Featured Image by Petros Giannakouris/AP Images]
