- CNN found Ambassador Christopher Stevens’ personal journal on the floor at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi
- Journal consisted of seven handwritten pages in a hard-bound book
- Network says it notified Stevens’ family at once and handed over the journal
CNN host Anderson Cooper admitted on Friday that the network had come across the late Ambassador Christopher Stevens’ personal journal and used parts of it in its reporting without disclosing the source.
On Wednesday on his show Anderson Cooper 360, the journalist told Senator John McCain that ‘a source familiar with Ambassador Stevens’ thinking told us that in the months before his death he talked about being worried about the never-ending security threats that he was facing in Benghazi, and specifically about the rise in Islamist extremism and growing al Qaeda presence.’
Cooper added that ‘the source also mentioned [Stevens] being on an al Qaeda hit list.’
However, it remains unclear why CNN did not reveal that it had found Stevens’ journal until Friday.
