CNN has issued a "correction" to a story featuring a photo of New Year's celebrations in Simferopol, Russia following a concerned tweet from the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington urging CNN to "do better fact checking."
"This story has been updated to clarify that Simferopol is a city on the Crimean peninsula, a region that has been disputed since Russia annexed it from Ukraine in 2014," the updated CNN report now reads.
The change prompted the Embassy to issue a new tweet saying "We appreciate the timely reaction from the @CNN team!" and adding that this was "the best New Year congratulations indeed!"
We appreciate the timely reaction from the @CNN team!
— UKR Embassy in USA (@UKRintheUSA) 2 января 2019 г.
The mistake with designating Simferopol in CNN’s photo gallery has been corrected https://t.co/bkIOANozUN. #CrimeaIsUkraine 🇺🇦
It’s the best New Year congratulations indeed! pic.twitter.com/bVhcR4I3Pt
Not everyone was happy with the "correction," however, since the caption under the photo itself still reads "Simferopol, Crimea."
@CNN found it easier to call Simferopol Russia in contradiction to US foreign policy directives and international laws. After being called out they chose to replace it with Simferopol Crimea without any mention of Ukraine where Crimea legally belongs to. Shame on you @CNN pic.twitter.com/mu2965ngtd
— Thierno 💙🇺🇦💛 (@RealThiernoUA) 2 января 2019 г.
The article now says Simferopol, Crimea…
— Mat Babiak 🚫 (@MatBabiak) 2 января 2019 г.
as if Crimea is an independent country.
Furthermore, the Ukrainian Embassy's tweet thanking CNN itself received some flak from users, who pointed out that Crimea returned to Russia in 2014 after a peninsula-wide referendum in which over 96 percent of voters chose to break off from Ukraine. Others hinted that the Embassy seems to have nothing better to do with its time than to pester CNN over its irrelevant claims, and suggested that maybe Kiev should print sticky notes saying "Crimea is Ukrainian."
The Russian Foreign Ministry in Crimea, meanwhile, mimicked the Ukrainian Embassy's tone, asking the Embassy itself to "do better fact checking with regard to #Crimea," adding that "#Simferopol is a capital of Russian Crimea!"
@UKRintheUSA and others should do better fact checking with regard to #Crimea🇷🇺 like @CNN does in recent post. #Simferopol is a capital of Russian Crimea!
— Russia's MFA in Crimea🇷🇺 (@PMSimferopol) 2 января 2019 г.
➡️https://t.co/4kzV4AMCKo #CrimeaIsRussia #Russia #Simferopol #CNN #Happy2019 #Крым #Россия #Симферополь pic.twitter.com/hhJGO47Iox
Crimea rejoined Russia in March 2014, 60 years after Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it from the Russian Federative Republic to the Ukrainian Republic within the Soviet Union in February 1954.
