U.S. news network, CCN, apologized to Kenya on Thursday over a earlier report portraying Kenya as a "hotbed of terror" ahead of U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Nairobi in July.

 

CNN's Global Managing Director, Tony Maddox, flew to Nairobi to personally deliver the apology to Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, admitting that the description of Kenya as a "hotbed of terror" was both ill fitting and undeserved.

 

"It wasn't a deliberate attempt to portray Kenya negatively; it is regrettable and we shouldn't have done it," Maddox said, according to a statement issued in Nairobi after the meeting.

 

"There is a world at a war with extremists; we know what a hotbed of terror looks like, and Kenya isn't one," the CNN chief added.

 

The CNN reported on July 23 that Obama was not just heading to his father's ancestral land but to a "hotbed of terror," sparking furious reactions from Kenyans on social media.

 

Kenyatta expressed his deep disappointment at the story not only on behalf of the government, but also because it angered the people of Kenya.

 

"In one stroke, CNN's description of Kenya as a 'hotbed of terror' undermined the sacrifices made by our Kenyan troops, and the value of hundreds of lives lost, and relegated them to nothing," Kenyatta said.

 

"That's why Kenyans, as expressed by those on Twitter, were so angry. Kenya is nothing like the countries that have real war. There was no reason to portray Kenya in that way," he added.

 

Tens of thousands of Kenyans have been tweeting under the hashtag #SomeoneTellCNN to criticize the U.S. net work and demand an apology.

 

According to reports by local media last week, Kenya suspended a contract with the channel after being called a "hotbed of terror."

 

A similar gaffe was made by CNN before the Kenyan general election of 2013, which also sparked a campaign across Kenyan social media.

(Xinhua)