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Here is a link to the meme on Facebook.

Here is the meme itself:

Image showing three photos with a caption

Caption:

When CNN uses the same girl

In 3 different Refugee Crisis pictures being saved by 3 different men

The meme has 35000+ shares.

  1. Were these photos published or used by CNN?
  2. If so, are the photos shown in this meme unaltered from their use by CNN?
  3. Were the photos represented by CNN as being from different locations, as the meme implies?
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    Notice that the text does not say "3 different crises", but it does say "3 different pictures".
    – kasperd
    Feb 12, 2017 at 2:33
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    @kasperd you're correct. It's also correct to say that the wording is ambiguous and misleading in context. So sure. It's literally correct. Just like when herbal supplements tell you it's used for hair loss right next to the FDA disclaimer that says "This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease". Everything is literally true. It's used for hair loss ... by people that don't know that it doesn't work. Whatever else this meme is, it certainly isn't quality reporting.
    – candied_orange
    Feb 12, 2017 at 14:10

1 Answer 1

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Here is a Snopes article about the image.

The images are real, and they do indeed show the same girl. The implication of the meme seems to be that CNN faked the image, or used it in a different context. There is no evidence for either.

Were these photos published or used by CNN?

The first and second image were used by CNN and correctly describe the context of it. I was unable to find usage of the third image, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

If so, are the photos shown in this meme unaltered from their use by CNN?

They are cropped, but the same girl is indeed in all of the original images.

Were the photos represented by CNN as being from different locations, as the meme implies?

No, not in the uses I could find.

The first image is described as showing the results of a barrel bomb attack in August 2016 in Aleppo, and the second image is described as a man carrying a wounded child in Aleppo in August 2016.

Snopes concurs:

We found no evidence that CNN ever used any of these photographs to represent anything other than that one event.

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    Given what I've seen in news coverage of disasters like this you have different people operating at different stages of a disaster. You have the front line people digging for survivors (the guy in the hardhat) who hands them off to someone who carries them to a collection point, and then someone who takes them to an ambulance (or perhaps to a relative).
    – BobT
    Feb 11, 2017 at 17:17
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    If you view the CNN video in the first link you provided, you can see both the first and second man on site of the same tragedy wearing the same clothes in the photos. If CNN were to fly the same actors to different locations but insist they use the same clothes, that would be the dumbest conspiracy ever.
    – Cliff AB
    Feb 11, 2017 at 18:33

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