CNN’s Christiane Amanpour mislabels Uganda as Nigeria…faces backlash

CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour has faced backlash from Nigerians and Ugandans after wrongly describing the coronation of Uganda’s new Tooro king as taking place in Nigeria, according to a report by Premium Times.

Amanpour shared a video about Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a former television news anchor crowned King Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I of Uganda’s Tooro Kingdom, but captioned it describing “the TV anchor who would be king” as having been crowned “in Nigeria this week.” The coronation actually took place in Fort Portal, western Uganda, after a succession dispute among the Babiito ruling clan’s eligible princes.

The error drew swift mockery online. Nigerian user @nnamdinnake wrote that Nigeria isn’t an “automatic autocorrect for Uganda,” while Ugandan user @IcumarJudith called the mistake “extremely embarrassing” for a journalist of Amanpour’s standing and questioned whether her other reporting could be trusted. Another user, @Karungisera2, said the error raised concerns about ignorance even among internationally recognised journalists, while @CKyobutungi criticised a broader pattern of treating African countries as interchangeable.

As of five hours after the post went up, Premium Times reported Amanpour had not issued a correction. The backlash extended to Nigerian social media, where user Nina questioned the accuracy of information from “celebrated” international media houses following the mix-up, which many described as a basic geographical blunder unbefitting a veteran foreign correspondent of Amanpour’s decades-long career covering major global events.

UPDATE: Christiane Amanpour issues correction