CNN accused of 'fear porn' for hyping story of Broward County teachers dead from COVID without key context

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CNN is facing intense backlash over the "absurd framing" of a story about Florida teachers who died from the coronavirus that left out crucial context. 

Amid a national debate over mask and vaccine mandates going into the school year, CNN promoted a story out of Broward County, where at least three teachers caught the virus and died soon afterward, all within a 24-hour period.  

"More breaking news, we have a sad development we just learned of out of Florida," CNN anchor John Berman began. "WFOR is reporting that four teachers from Broward County have died from COVID in a single day. The teachers union chief told the affiliate that three of the four, at least three of the four were unvaccinated. The status of the fourth not currently unknown."

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The "New Day" co-host then hyped the standoff between Broward County and Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, suggesting his ban of mask mandates could lead to such deaths. 

"Since August 1st, we're told Broward County employees had 108 employees test positive," Berman added. 

"That is a stunning number," CNN anchor Brianna Keilar reacted. "This is obviously going to be met with a lot of grief in that community, and it's showing the cost of COVID there, especially for the unvaccinated."

"In one day," Berman stressed. "And this is the context with which these officials in Broward County are asking for the freedom to make the decisions that they think they think are right for their schools."

"Yeah, to protect not just the kids, right, but the teachers as well," Keilar replied. 

However, the crucial fact missing from CNN's on-air reporting was that schools in Broward County don't start until next week, meaning the teachers who died did not contract the virus in the classroom.

The key context was missing from Keilar's tweet as well as CNN's own tweet promoting an online report.

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"In a 24-hour period, four educators in Broward County, Florida, died from Covid-19 related complications, officials said," CNN wrote in the now-deleted tweet. "At least three were unvaccinated, a teacher's union president said. The vaccination status of the fourth isn't yet known."

CNN issued a correction to its online report, but not because of its framing. 

"An earlier version of this story mischaracterized one of the four people who died based on information provided by the Broward Teachers Union. That person has been identified as a female Broward County Public Schools graduate with close ties to the school district through her job," the correction read, which was also reiterated on Twitter. 

The article maintained its framing with the headline, "3 Broward County, Florida, educators died within about 24 hours from Covid-19 complications," leaving out the fact that the educators did not contract the virus on the job. 

Critics panned CNN on social media for lacking the important context on social media. 

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"Trash reporting from CNN somehow (oopsie!) fails to mention schools in Broward County have yet to open. Garbage. Shameful silence from the rest of the media," New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz reacted.

"This is an absurd framing," Fourth Watch media critic Steve Krakauer wrote. "Broward county schools are not open until next week. You could say this about any occupation. It has absolutely nothing to do with them being ‘teachers’ or about what schools should do regarding masks, vaccines or anything else."

"This stat is reported with the context that Florida's state government opposes mandatory masking of children. But schools in Broward county are on summer break. The teachers didn't get covid-19 in schools from kids. Their status as teachers isn't relevant..." journalist Zaid Jilani similarly tweeted.

Reason Magazine senior editor Robby Soave insisted that the type of coverage CNN has given "implicitly blames DeSantis's ban on masks mandates in schools."

Washington Examiner reporter Jerry Dunleavy invoked the over 617,000 Americans who died from the virus, but noted "CNN decided to focus on these… tragic deaths because it is an advocacy outfit before it is a news organization."

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"incredible framing done by CNN here. schools in Broward County do not open until Monday. these educators died from contracting COVID during summer break. this is fear porn based on cherry-picked information. it's lying by omission," Habibi Bros. co-host Siraj Hashmi scolded the liberal network.

While CNN deleted its misleading tweet, Keilar's post remains, collecting thousands of retweets and generating reactions of sympathy for the teachers who they believe contracted the virus at schools while others expressed animosity towards DeSantis. 

CNN did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.