NAACP Criticizes CNN for Erroneous Boston Arrest Report

The NAACP said it was concerned with CNN's erroneous report on April 17 that law enforcement officials had a "dark-skinned male" in custody in connection with the Boston Marathon bombing.

John King responded in a tweet April 18 that he was responsible for reporting that description, but that he was no racist. NAACP saw the problem as two-fold. The report turned out to be wrong, but also that CNN used "an overly-broad, unhelpful and potentially racially inflammatory categorization to describe the potential suspect," said NAACP president Benjamin Todd Jealous. "History teaches us that too often people of color are unfairly targeted in the aftermath of acts of terrorism," he said. The group asked CNN and others to use caution and "weigh the implications" of such characterizations.