CNN on Monday evening ran a lengthy segment about Alabama’s beaches supposedly being packed to the brim over the Memorial Day Weekend, however local officials are now pushing back on the accuracy of the reporting.
You can watch the original CNN segment below:
CNN hit piece on Bama Beaches. https://t.co/sZ8kRsdQiZ
— Matt Murphy (@mattmurphyshow) May 26, 2020
Speaking to WPMI, Gulf Shores Mayor Robert Craft and Orange Beach City Manager Ken Grimes questioned CNN’s reporting.
“You would be able to go down there at any time on our beaches and tell a story you wanted to tell if you had an agenda,” Craft told the local NBC affiliate.
He added, “We can’t control everybody, but we’ve done the best that we can, and I’ve been pleased with what I’ve seen down here.”
The mayor then emphasized the importance of perception, speaking to how camera angles can distort reality.
“I will agree that if you stood and looked down the beach horizontally like their video did, it looks like chaos. But when you get out and walk through the people and you go vertically across the beach, you will see that the majority of the people are social distanced or staying together,” Craft outlined.
David Swiger, a local real estate broker who sells Alabama’s beautiful beaches for a living, also spoke critically about the CNN segment.
“I don’t think the story is very accurate,” he told WPMI. “I think the angles of the photography and videography are very curious. There’s no aerial shots taken that show the social distancing. It looks like, to me, the people are very respectful. They were giving everyone their six feet.”
View WPMI’s full report here or below for more local reaction to the CNN segment:
Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01) on Wednesday also took aim at CNN, criticizing the segment’s on-scene reporter for apparently not wearing a mask on the beach when the camera stopped rolling.
.@CNN‘s “mask is off” now. This confirms what we’ve known for a long time — CNN is nothing but hypocritical #fakenews pushing an anti-Trump agenda, even at the expense of the truth. Ridiculous! https://t.co/9n8UDK9wIZ
— Rep. Bradley Byrne (@RepByrne) May 27, 2020
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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