(CNN asks that you copy and e-mail this statement to
whomever asks about it.)
There is absolutely no truth to the information that
is now
distributed on the Internet that CNN used
10-year-old video
when showing the celebrating of some Palestinians in
East
Jerusalem after the terror attacks in the U.S. The
video was shot
that day by a Reuters camera crew. CNN is a client
of Reuters and
like other clients, received the video and broadcast
it. Reuters
officials have publicly made the facts clear as well.
The allegation is false. The source of the
allegation has withdrawn it and
apologized. It was started by a Brazilian
student who now says he immediately
posted a correction once he knew the information was
not true.
This is the statement by his university -- UNICAMP --
Universidad Estatal de Campinas-Brasil.
Again, please read this -- and copy it -- and send
it to anyone
you know who may have the false information. Thank you.
OFFICIAL STATEMENT by Universidad de Campinas-Brasil
17/09/01
UNICAMP (Universidad Estatal de Campinas-Brasil)
would like to
announce that it has no knowledge of a videotape
from 1991,
whose images supposedly aired on CNN showing
Palestinians
celebrating the terrorist attacks in the U.S. The
tape was
supposedly from 1991, and there were rumors that the
images
were passed off as current.
This information was later denied, as soon as it
proved false, by
M�rcio A. V. Carvalho, a student at UNICAMP. He
approached the
administration today, 17.09.2001, to clarify the
following:
-- the information he got, verbally, was that a
professor from
another institution (not from UNICAMP) had the tape;
-- he sent the information to a discussion group
e-mail list;
-- many people from this list were interested in the
subject and
requested more details;
-- he again contacted the person who first gave him the
information and the person denied having the tape;
-- the student immediately sent out a note
clarifying what
happened to the people from his e-mail list.
The original message, however, was distributed all
over the
world, often with many distortions, including a
falsified by-line
article from the student. He affirms that a hacker
attacked his
domain. Several E-mails have been sent on his behalf
and those
dating from 15.09.2001 should be ignored.
Among the distortions is the fact that UNICAMP would be
analyzing the tape, which is absolutely false. The
administration
considers this alert definitive and will be careful
to avoid new
rumors.
