CNN Deletes Post Framing ISIS Bomb Throwers as Teen Tourists
CNN deleted a post describing two ISIS-inspired bomb throwers as teens enjoying New York City, one of several media missteps across three domestic terror incidents in two weeks.
Two teens enjoying unseasonably warm weather in New York City. That was CNN's opening framing for Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi — the men arrested for hurling bombs at a protest. The network deleted the post after acknowledging it failed to reflect the gravity of the incident.
The description came from a network that would go on to issue three separate corrections after its coverage implied Mayor Zohran Mamdani was the target of the ISIS-inspired attack. Balat, 18, and Kayumi, 19, threw improvised explosive devices packed with TATP — known as Mother of Satan — at a protest organized by conservative influencer Jake Lang. Both men admitted to drawing inspiration from ISIS. Balat reportedly said he wanted an attack even bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch did not mince words about what New Yorkers had escaped. "Devices like these have the potential to cause devastating harm. We were fortunate that the devices used this weekend did not cause the kind of harm that they were certainly capable of causing," she said. "But luck is never a strategy."
CNN's deleted post had described the two men as teenagers enjoying the city before their lives would drastically change. "It has therefore been deleted," CNN said, citing a breach of editorial standards.
The mischaracterizations did not end there. CNN host Abby Phillip told viewers on NewsNight that the attempted attack targeted New York's Mayor Mamdani. The next day, she corrected herself on social media. "I want to correct something I said last night," she posted. "The bombs thrown in New York City over the weekend by ISIS-inspired attackers was thrown into a crowd of anti-Muslim protesters and not specifically targeted at Mayor Mamdani. That wording was inaccurate, and I didn't catch it ahead of time. I apologize for the error."
Senior CNN reporter Edward-Isaac Dovere faced parallel criticism after posting that Mamdani had been the target of political violence. He deleted the post and apologized, stating that law enforcement officials did not say Mamdani was the target.
The Gracie Mansion incident was the second in a string of attacks that law enforcement described as potential acts of terrorism. The first struck Austin on March 1, when Ndiaga Diagne, 53, drove an SUV down 6th Street, firing from the vehicle before stepping out and continuing to shoot with a rifle at Buford's bar. Diagne killed three people and wounded 13 others before police shot him dead.
Inside Diagne's car, investigators found an Iranian flag T-shirt and a Quran. The Senegalese-born naturalized U.S. citizen wore a hoodie reading "Property of Allah." "There were indicators on the subject and then his vehicle that indicate a potential nexus to terrorism," said Alex Doran, acting special agent in charge of the FBI San Antonio division.
Three days later, Balat and Kayumi made their move outside Gracie Mansion. The pair had traveled to Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and what sources described as terror-training hot spots. A notebook recovered by investigators showed they had planned the attack for at least a week. Video footage captured one of the men appearing to yell "Allahu Akbar" as he released the device.
The New York Times drew scrutiny over its own framing of the Gracie Mansion incident. Its initial headline read "Smoking Jars of Metal and Fuses Thrown at Protest Near Mayor's House" before editors updated the story to acknowledge bombs. A separate Times piece headlined "At 13, He Was Selling Sneakers. At 18, He's Facing Terror Charges" described Balat as a budding entrepreneur who programmed bots to buy sneakers. CBS News graphics appeared to place the IED throwers among conservative protesters rather than among counter-protesters targeting the Lang demonstration. NBC News headlines omitted any mention of the suspects' alleged ISIS ties.
On March 12, a third attack landed — this one at a house of worship. Ayman Ghazali, 41, rammed a truck through the doors of Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan. He drove down the hallway and exchanged gunfire with security guards before being shot dead. Some 140 students and staff evacuated safely.
Dearborn Heights Mayor Mo Baydoun said Ghazali had lost several family members, including his niece and nephew, in an Israeli strike on their home in Lebanon. FBI officials called the incident a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.
The pattern of coverage across all three incidents drew pointed criticism. "How many of these are we going to get, all in the same direction," wrote Philip Klein, editor of National Review Online. Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona responded to CNN's deleted post by saying "neither does this post, because it doesn't mention radical Islamic terrorism. Maybe give it a third shot?" Townhall's Tim Graham was more blunt: "CNN repeatedly screws up on Mamdani and two Muslims with bombs."
Three attacks. Three corrections. Three communities left to reckon with violence their neighbors narrowly survived — or did not.