How Ghanaians won a Twitter War against CNN

Ghanaian sports journalist, Gary Al-Smith, leda social media revolution that forcedCNN toupdate an article, which misrepresentedthe country’s economic situation.

The article had a paragraph, which read, “Oil reserves were discovered off the coast of Ghana in 2007, but Ghanaians (sic) struggle to obtain food and day-to-day services. Rolling blackouts are common and citizens often stand in long lines to obtain products.”

The journalist called on his fellow countrymen to join the campaign to get CNN to reverse correct the misrepresentation.

He began with a tweet: “My Ghana people. Shall we do something let @CNN know that we are tired of their lazy reportage of our election? Tweet them with #CNNGetItRight.”

The report came at the back Ghana’s successful 2016 general election.

The hashtag caught fire on social media especially on Twitter with people ridiculing and attacking the broadcast network for a ‘lazy reporting’.

Before long, the article was updated with this editorial note attached: “An earlier version of this article incorrectly described the status of the retail economy in Ghana. Stores are generally well stocked and food shortages are rare. The earlier version also erroneously said Nana Akufo-Addo run for president in 1998. Ghana did not have presidential elections in 1998.”

CNN interview with Trump accuser Kristin Anderson: Part 1