We've seen it since the beginning of the Iran War from the left-wing media. Trump and Israel are bad, Iran, while not necessarily good, is certainly not a threat to the U.S., and the atrocities that they have committed against their own people, and their targeting of civilian infrastructure in several Middle Eastern countries, for the most part, goes unreported. Consistent with this pattern, early on Thursday morning, CNN's The Story Is With Elex Michaelson, aired a report from inside Iran that easily could have been mistaken for an anti U.S., pro-Iran propaganda piece.
Michaelson led into the report with what would prove to be a damaging disclaimer.
MICHAELSON: CNN's Matthew Chance is now in Iran with photojournalist Alex Platt, with an inside look at how the war is impacting Iranians. We'd like to note that CNN only operates there with the permission of the Iranian government, as is required under local regulations, but maintains full editorial control over what it reports.
There was not a "Chance" they would make Iran look bad.
CHANCE: We're on a long drive towards the Iranian capital, but we've had to stop because we've come to a bridge that was struck by a U.S. or an Israeli airstrike during the recent bombing campaign. You can see a whole section of it has fallen into the into the river. And if you look around over here, all the cars and trucks have had to go around on this detour. When you when you consider all the other roads and bridges that have been hit, it's added hours to the journey time..
Wow, that is just awful. Why would the U.S. or Israel hit bridges that citizens use to get from place to place? Looks bad, no? Well what Chance doesn't tell his viewers is according to the IDF, via the Times of Israel, "The IDF announces that it bombed eight rail bridges and sections of roads 'used by the Iranian terror regime to transport weapons and military equipment.'
Chance continued with a description of the deadlock between Iran and the U.S., and presented it as a "both sides" issue, rather than rightfully blaming Iran for their unyielding stance on the nuclear issue.
CHANCE: Well, before we arrived in Iran, some Iranians told us, don't go in. It's too dangerous. The war could resume at any time, especially amid growing tensions over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the failure of the U.S. and Iran to reach a compromise over nuclear activities.
Chance never mentioned a recent social media post by Iran's President which said, "We will never bow our heads before the enemy, and if talk of dialogue or negotiation arises, it does not mean surrender or retreat."
He then continued his sympathetic account of how the war has changed the lives of many Iranians.
CHANCE: Meanwhile, here in Iran, we're glimpsing how the country is being shaped by the conflict and the pressure it's under from crowds of Iranians at the border. We've just been to hauling cooking oil across from Turkey, where it's much cheaper. An acute cost of living crisis, remember, sparked nationwide protests late last year that ended in horrific violence.
Horrific violence? No details, of course, because those protests happened before the war, and according to Amnesty International, "The authorities carried out massacres of protesters, primarily on 8 and 9 January, when the death toll rose into thousands. January 2026 marks the deadliest period of repression by the Iranian authorities in decades of Amnesty’s research."
He also doesn't inform that Iran agreeing to get rid of their nuclear potential would solve the described crisis, and his silence on that spreads the blame around to all involved.
Chance finished up with what it seemed he was hinting at all along.
CHANCE: To the words of one Iranian father who told me that what he called Trump's War, had silenced people and made the Iranian government stronger. In his words, at least for now.
Remember the disclaimer given by Michaelson leading into Chance's piece including, CNN "maintains full editorial control over what it reports"? If accurate in this case, it's a very sad commentary. But, after all, this is CNN.
