‘Disgusting!’: CNN Slammed for Headline on Deadly Tel Aviv Attack With ‘Terrorists’ in Quotation Marks

CNN was immediately slammed when viewers noticed one small detail about the network's story about Wednesday's attack in Tel Aviv, Israel — the word "terrorists" was set off by quotation marks.

The fatal attack, carried out by two Palestinians who opened fire in a popular complex in Tel Aviv, left four Israelis dead and at least five others wounded.

The Sarona market, where the attack was carried out, is a popular open-air tourist destination with restaurants and restored shopping stores located across the street from Israel's military headquarters. Shortly after the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the act as "cold-blooded murder by despicable terrorists."

But CNN initially seemed to avoid such clear language. It wasn't long before viewers started chiming in on social media, hitting the news outlet for its choice of phrasing — one Twitter user sarcastically slammed the network for its "unbiased" reporting.

Not long after the criticism began flowing, CNN removed the quotations and published a brief statement about the ordeal, writing that a previous tweet "called into question" whether or not the attack in Tel Aviv was terrorism when "it undoubtably was."

This is not the first time CNN has been scrutinized for placing the controversial modifiers around the word "terrorists."

Earlier this year, while describing a Palestinian-lead stabbing attack in Israel in March, CNN set off the words "terrorists" with quotation marks, which — similar to Wednesday's story — were later removed.

—

Follow the author of this story on Twitter:

Follow @tregp