4 CNN 'regulars' have links with Qatar's regime: Conservative Review

CAIRO – 8 April 2019: Texas-based American news company Conservative Review managed to shed light in a report on four prominent "regulars" of the renowned American network CNN, who it found to have strong ties with the Qatari regime.

The report named Ali Soufan, the executive director of the Qatar International Academy for Security Studies (QIASS), who was featured by a documentary attacking Saudi Arabia, published by the CNN last March.

Conservative Review referred to the Wall Street Journal's allegation that Soufan has a "personal relationship" with the Qatari leadership.

The report edited the title of Soufan from a "contributor" to a "regular" after CNN told the Conservative Review via email that he is a guest, according to the report.

It also referred to his stance attacking Saudi Arabia after the murder of Saudi Journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the kingdom's consulate in Turkey.

While Mehdi Hassan, a presenter for Doha-based state-funded Al-Jazeera, is also a CNN regular, who the CNN explained to the Conservative Review that he is a guest.

The third is Juliette Kayyem, a CNN national security analyst, who the report claimed first she is currently a board member of the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS) controlled by Qatar, "to secure and defend Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid."

However, Conservative Review said that the CNN said in an email that Kayyem is no longer on the ICSS board, which the report seems to doubt or at least blame others for the mistake, as it said that it found that her official biographies at both CNN and Harvard, where she lectures, have been altered following the publication.

"Until the publication of this story, both bios said that she was currently a board member … Her Harvard bio now indicates that she was a board member until 2015. CNN’s response to CR states that her “contract” with ICSS ended several years ago," the report said, providing screenshots.

Moreover, the report asserted that Peter Bergen, lead CNN national security analyst, has ties with the Qatari regime, but, unlike the others, are not direct to Qatari state institutions.

However the report said that Bergen, is a regular visitor to Qatar and that he "pushes blatant pro-Qatar agitprop when it comes to Middle East affairs."

"Bergen’s bio states that he is a professor of practice at Arizona State University, which has the largest number of Qatari students at any U.S. university, many of whom are sponsored by Qatari state institutions, including its defense ministry," the report stated.