CNN’s “Global Report: War With Iran,” hosted by Anderson Cooper, delivered a textbook example of biased wartime coverage: regime-sourced propaganda from Tehran paired with the network’s go-to anti-Trump establishment “experts.”
Before this clip, Cooper first brought on Kaitlan Collins to discuss President Trump’s supposedly conflicting messages about when the war would end. But that framing misses something basic about how wars actually work. No serious commander broadcasts an exact end date to the enemy.
Then came John Bolton, and according to Bolton, everything Trump was doing was wrong. That was not surprising. Bolton served as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security from 2001 to 2005 for President George W. Bush, a key role in which he pushed for the Iraq invasion. So when CNN turns to Bolton for analysis, viewers should understand exactly what kind of perspective they are getting: not neutral military analysis, but a longtime interventionist and fierce Trump critic. What makes it even more remarkable is that this is the same Bolton whom Democrats and much of the media treated as a villain during the George W. Bush years, but who now gets welcomed onto their shows as a beloved expert, especially when he is trashing Trump. And when Cooper asked him his first question, Bolton was smiling.
The most striking part of the segment, though, was CNN’s reporting from Tehran. Fred Pleitgen described a large rally in support of the new supreme leader after the death of the old leader.
Cooper asked him:
“You attended that rally that was in support of the supreme leader. What was it like?”
Pleitgen responded:
“It was huge. It was massive. There were thousands, tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of people, Anderson, who turned out. It was at Enghelab Square, which is Revolutionary Square, obviously celebrating the Islamic Revolution.
“And there really was a twofold message. On the one hand, people there were mourning the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the late supreme leader, who, of course, was killed in an airstrike a little over a week ago. And then also pledging allegiance to the new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who is the second eldest son of the late supreme leader.
“A lot of people there were very angry at the current situation, I have to say. A lot of the people were pretty charged up, screaming ‘Death to America,’ ‘Death to Israel’ — certainly a lot more so and a lot more forcefully than we’ve witnessed in the past. And we’ve been at a lot of events similar to this one in the past.
“It was very large. And you could tell that the people there were really angry at the Trump administration, were very angry, obviously, at Israel as well, but at the same time also trying to project that the governing forces here are still very much in control, Anderson, and also that there is a succession in place and that the leadership here in this country is still very much intact.”
CNN’s viewers were shown a large, regime-staged rally, mostly hardline men in Enghelab Square, mourning the old leader, pledging allegiance to the new one, and reportedly chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” which Pleitgen described as more intense than in the past. CNN chose to spotlight supporters of the old regime, not Iranians who do not support it.
The footage of the rally on screen was mostly cropped into a tall, narrow frame, like a YouTube Short rather than a full TV frame, which was odd given how much CNN was stressing how huge the crowd was.
Pleitgen also said the chants were “certainly a lot more so and a lot more forcefully than we’ve witnessed in the past.” So what does “more forcefully” really tell the viewer? It sounds less like careful reporting and more like a way of emphasizing the exact image the Iranian regime wants broadcast.
Anderson Cooper noted that CNN’s team in Iran was being monitored by the Iranian government, which should have alerted viewers that this was controlled, regime-approved reporting.
CNN viewers got exactly what the Iranian regime wanted broadcast: a large show of support for the new supreme leader, reported anti-Trump anger, and the message that the governing forces were still very much in control.
After this clip, Cooper brought on yet another anti-Trump Democrat, Mark Kelly, to keep the same pattern going: more Trump criticism, more establishment-approved spin, and no challenge to the regime narrative CNN had already helped air.
The first thing Kelly said was, “Who knows with Donald Trump. I mean, he went into this without a strategic goal, without a plan, without a timeline.”
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