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CNN Falsely Reports Boris Johnson ‘Refused To Look At’ Picture Of Hospitalized Boy

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CNN reported Monday that U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson “refused to look at a photograph of” a young boy in a hospital, even though video of the event shows Johnson looking at the picture several times.

ITV News’ political correspondent Joe Pike tweeted out a video of his conversation with the prime minister Monday. Pike wrote that he showed Johnson a photo of a “4-year-old with suspected pneumonia forced to lie on a pile of coats on the floor” of a hospital, and that the prime minister took his phone and put the phone in his pocket.

“Boris Johnson grabbed a reporter’s phone and refused to look at a photograph of a four-year-old boy with suspected pneumonia, forced to lie on a hospital emergency room floor as he waited for a bed,” CNN reporter Amy Woodyatt wrote. “Johnson repeatedly refused to look at the photo when asked to, and then grabbed the journalist’s phone and pocketed it.”

Pike’s video clearly shows Johnson looking at the phone several times after he briefly puts it in his pocket as he finishes his speech. The video is included in CNN’s article.

CNN declined to comment on the record to the Daily Caller News Foundation.

WATCH:

Tried to show @BorisJohnson the picture of Jack Williment-Barr. The 4-year-old with suspected pneumonia forced to lie on a pile of coats on the floor of a Leeds hospital.

The PM grabbed my phone and put it in his pocket: @itvcalendar | #GE19 pic.twitter.com/hv9mk4xrNJ

— Joe Pike (@joepike) December 9, 2019

CNN’s headline also suggests that the video shows Johnson dodging Pike’s question. It reads, “Boris Johnson takes reporter’s phone and dodges question on shocking emergency room picture.” The video, however, includes a segment where Johnson talks about the situation.

“I’m sorry,” Johnson says as he takes Pike’s phone out of his pocket and looks at the picture. “It’s a terrible, terrible photo, and I apologize obviously to the families and all those who have terrible experiences in the NHS [National Health Service]. But, what we are doing is supporting the NHS and on the whole I think patients in the NHS have a much, much better experience than this poor kid has had.”

The article notes in the second to last paragraph that Johnson did, in fact, look at the picture on the phone. Johnson also apologized for taking the phone, as the article noted in the same paragraph.

The picture shows Jack Williment-Barr, a 4-year-old who was sent to the hospital Dec. 3, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post.