Fact Check

Did CNN Purchase an Industrial-Sized Washing Machine to Spin News?

The news media organization reportedly invested in mechanical assistance to help their journalists and news anchors spin the news before publication.

Published March 1, 2018

 (photo.ua / Shutterstock.com)
Image Via photo.ua / Shutterstock.com
Claim:
CNN invested in an industrial-sized washing machine to help their journalists and news anchors spin the news before publication.

On 1 March 2018, the Babylon Bee web site published an article reporting that CNN had made a significant investment in heavy machinery to assist their journalists "spin" the news they report:

ATLANTA, GA — In order to aid the news station in preparing stories for consumption, popular news media organization CNN purchased an industrial-sized washing machine to help its journalists and news anchors spin the news before publication.

The custom-made device allows CNN reporters to load just the facts of a given issue, turn a dial to “spin cycle,” and within five minutes, receive a nearly unrecognizable version of the story that’s been spun to fit with the news station’s agenda.

One reporter was seen inserting the facts of a recent news story early Thursday morning.

“Okay, so we just slip in the location, the people involved, the facts of the story, and there we go,” he muttered as he fiddled with the buttons and dials on the machine. “Spin for five minutes on high, and we’ll have ourselves a news story.”

Although it should have been obvious that the Babylon Bee piece was just a spoof of the ongoing political brouhaha over alleged news media "bias" and "fake news," some readers missed that aspect of the article and interpreted it literally. But the site's footer gives away the Babylon Bee's nature by describing it as "Your Trusted Source For Christian News Satire," and the site has been responsible for a number of other (usually religious-themed) spoofs that have been mistaken for real news articles.

Sources

The Babylon Bee.   "CNN Purchases Industrial-Sized Washing Machine To Spin News Before Publication."     1 March 2018.

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

Article Tags