CNN journalists apologizes for entering Thai's recent mass shooting site

Two CNN journalists who covered the attack on a Thai childcare facility last week, which left 37 people dead, including 23 children, are sorry for their coverage. The reason is that they went into the target building and started filming. As a result, the officials charged them with trespassing and unauthorized photography of a crime scene. Furthermore, the police later dropped the allegations against them. But they received fines for working as journalists while they were on visitor visas. On the other hand, the two journalists, cameraman Daniel Hodge and reporter Anna Coren have agreed to leave the country, BBC reported. Moreover, in a video extensively shared by local news outlets, both CNN journalists apologized. In addition, the video appears to have been shot inside a police station. Additionally, Ms. Coren, who received the same fine as Mr. Hodge of 5,000 baht ($133; £120), stated, "My deepest apologies... especially the families of victims of this tragedy - we are so sorry to have caused you more pain and suffering. We know your country is going through a painful time and we never came here to cause more grief." On another note, after other journalists expressed worries about the incident, Thai police investigated it. In addition, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand and the Thai Journalists' Association criticized the CNN team in statements for "a serious breach of journalistic ethics in crime reporting." They posed the question, "Would one of their crews have behaved in the same way at a serious crime scene in the United States?"

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On social media, an image of a CNN crew member scaling a short barrier to escape the property was also widely circulated.

#กราดยิงหนองบัวลําภู: Image of CNN news crew climbing out of the childcare centre in Nong Bua Lamphu taken by a Thai journalist pic.twitter.com/Zj50VovIdE

— FCCThai (@FCCThai) October 8, 2022

Furthermore, the police later transported Ms. Coren and Mr. Hodge to the police station in the province of Nong Bua Lam Phu, where the attack took place, for questioning. And although the CNN team claimed they obtained permission to enter the location, two Thai ministries said otherwise. But, the police accepted that they believed they had permission and opted not to pursue charges against them. Moreover, CNN issued two statements. According to the first response, it stated three public health officials reportedly permitted their crew to film inside. In addition, they claimed that while the two journalists were inside, the officials closed off the area. Thus, they had to scale the fence to get out. According to the local news outlet The Nation, police later discovered that village health volunteers had allowed the CNN team admission despite having no authorization to do so. Hence, in its second statement, CNN International's executive vice president and general manager Mike McCarthy noted that the team entered the building "in good faith, to gain a fuller impression of what transpired inside and to humanize the scale of the tragedy for their audience." He also said they "deeply regret any distress or offense" caused by the report, adding that CNN had subsequently stopped airing it and taken down the footage from its website. For those unknown, the latest mass shooting by a former 34-year-old policeman at a childcare center, killing children as young as two, has left the nation in shock. Lastly, the attacker, identified as a local named Panya Kamrab, killed his wife and his stepson, before killing himself after a manhunt. The motive for his attack is still unclear.