CNN spots 'ISIS flag' at gay pride parade and summons national security analyst...

CNN observed an "unnerving" sight in London yesterday and swiftly took to the air to warn viewers about it.

International assignment editor Lucy Pawle called in to report her concerns after spotting "a clear attempt to mimic" an ISIS flag at a gay pride parade. The flag was being waved by a shady character dressed in black, Pawle reported, a man distinguishable from the other colorful marchers in the gay pride parade.

No one else seemed to have noticed the flag, Pawle reported. Pawle said she took her findings to the organizer of the parade, who claimed to know nothing about it. She also consulted police nearby, who seemed alarmingly unconcerned.

Worrisome, indeed.

So, naturally, CNN summoned Pawle and their national security analyst to discuss the ramifications:

Alas, as many other news organizations including Slate and BuzzFeed have since noted, the flag the network spotted at the gay pride parade was not, in fact, an ISIS flag, but just some crude drawings of sex toys.

The headline of the story is still available at CNN's web site. The video itself has mysteriously disappeared...

(As journalists whose reporting has not always been perfect over the years, our sympathies to CNN and Ms. Pawle...).

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