Many supposedly reputable news outlets fell for an amateur doctored image circulated online on March 18, 2015, indicating that Lee Kuan Yew had passed away.

Following the boo-boo and official confirmation that the picture was not authentic, the media were either sent scrambling trying to retract their news alerts or make it disappear altogether.

However, the dubious honour of playing the whole thing down and then passing the blame goes to CNN.

After deleting their tweet that Lee had passed away, they are now framing the story in a way that insinuates it is the Singapore government that is engaging in a cover-up, although they did not use the exact words.

But the headline of their article is telling: "Singapore dismisses Lee Kuan Yew death report as hoax"

And this was what CNN wrote in their follow-up article that conveniently absolve themselves of their fact-checking responsibility:

A top government spokesman dismissed as a hoax Wednesday a report that Singapore's founding father had died.

Former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew is alive, said Farah Rahim, senior director for the Singapore Ministry of Communications and Information. The 91-year-old, who has been in a hospital with pneumonia since February 5, is in critical condition, the government has said.

A message purporting to be from the current Prime Minister circulated online Wednesday saying that Lee had died. CNN published that news on its breaking news Twitter account before updating the account to quote Singapore's government spokesman dismissing the news as a hoax. The network has since deleted the original tweet.

"We have reported this to the police and they are investigating this hoax. Our website was not hacked, it was a doctored image," the spokesman said.

The real story, therefore and unfortunately, should have been: "Supposedly reputable news outlet CNN falls for doctored image about LKY's passing, totally owned".

But CNN not exactly being the most objective in their reporting when it comes to Singapore is no surprise.

Over the years, they have picked up on stories and issues that puts Singapore in an unflattering light.

For example:

Unhappy with sex services? Don't call us, Singapore says

Singapore's billion-dollar sport stadium wows architects, but can it get its turf to grow?

Like Hong Kong, Singapore needs democracy - Chee Soon Juan

Anyway, China’s SINA, TV network CCTV, Hong Kong’s Phoenix China News have subsequently apologised for the error made about Lee's death.

Except CNN.

Related article:

International media jump the gun and announce LKY’s passing prematurely

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