CNN published an article Friday titled, "Unmasking the leftist Antifa movement: Activists seek peace through violence," but the next day changed the headline to exclude any mention of the group using violence.
Reporters Sara Ganim and Chris Welch took an in-depth look at antifa, which refers to an anti-fascist, leftist movement that sometimes uses violence in protests to further its goals. Members of antifa earlier this month protested a gathering of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., where a white supremacist is charged with killing one and injuring others with his vehicle. During the recent antifa protests, at least two reporters were physically assaulted by antifa members; one antifa group blamed the reporter for filming them without their permission.
CNN scrubbed the headline of its article and changed it to "Unmasking the leftist Antifa movement." Benny Johnson from the Independent Journal Review took a screenshot of the two different headlines and claimed CNN altered the original title because antifa did not like it.
CNN literally scrubbed a headline which called Antifa violent because Antifa did not like it.
This is modern journalism. pic.twitter.com/pQ2oHRwkIw
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) August 20, 2017
It is unclear why CNN changed its headline, but the article also was updated with an editor's note.
"Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that counter-protesters say they are not to blame for the violence at the Charlottesville protest. The story's headline has also been updated," the note reads.
Despite CNN changing the headline, the examples of antifa violence remained in the article.
"And their methods are often violent. Antifa leaders admit they're willing to physically attack anyone who employs violence against them or who condones racism—as long as force is used in the name of eradicating hatred," the article says.
CNN anchor Jake Tapper defended his employer and called Johnson's characterization of the situation not accurate.
Unreal in the sense that what benny is saying isn't accurate or true in any sense, yes.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 20, 2017