CNN’s Camerota Frets over Post Mocking Her Network from American Detained by Russia

CNN’s Alisyn Camerota highlighted a photo that mocked CNN from Paul Whelan, an American detained in Russia on suspicions of being a spy, and asked his brother David Whelan if it was a “statement” on air Wednesday.

“There are some strange elements of your–or at least questionable, I guess, of your brother’s story. He had this social media account, the equivalent in Russia of Facebook, it’s called VK, and he’s had it for 13 years,” Camerota said.

“And he had various postings on there, pictures of him in Russia…well, here’s one, I wasn’t planning to go to this one yet, but let’s talk about this one. Here’s one where he says, ‘just drinking coffee and watching fake news.’ Now, I’m not taking this personally that he’s pictured with CNN, but I just am wondering is this a statement on his part somehow?”

CNN then displayed a photo from social media on screen:

“I don’t really know. I don’t know what’s on his VKontakte page. I don’t really follow him on social media other than on Twitter, which is where I am. So, I don’t know what he was intending by those photos,” David Whelan answered.

Camerota followed up, “What did he tell you about his social media? I mean, why do you think that he did have, a VK account, a social media account in Russia?”

“I knew over the years he’d met Russians,” he answered. “I don’t know whether it was through work or through his Marine activity, but he’d met people while he had been traveling around, and he connected with them on social media. and he would tell us that when he was traveling he would go and visit those people. So, I expect that he probably had a VKontakte page because his Russian friends had a VKontakte page.”

Paul Whelan was detained in Russia last week on suspicions that he was spying in Russia. He is a retired Marine and reportedly worked in corporate security.

My brother was detained by the Russian government on Friday as an alleged spy. While the law library + info focus will remain, you may see an increase in off-message topics until we get him safely home. pic.twitter.com/2HIF1UmS1b

— David Whelan (@davidpwhelan) January 1, 2019

Both of Camerota’s questions here are meaningless and totally unrelated to anything having to do with Whelan’s arrest in Russia.

His views of CNN’s accuracy should not play any part in Americans’ views of his detention in Russia, and since he has reportedly traveled to Russia several times and has friends and acquaintances in Russia, it is perfectly normal and not at all noteworthy that he had a VK account. VK is a Russian social media site that, as Camerota herself notes, is like the Russian version of Facebook.

Follow Justin Caruso on Twitter @justincaruso2