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CNN 10
How To Vet Video Clips Coming Out Of Ukraine; Ongoing MLB Lockout; Conserving Tortoises In Bangladesh. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired March 03, 2022 - 04:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: It`s great to have you watching on this third day of March. My name is Carl Azuz.
We`re starting with something a little different today. We`re explaining how we vet, how we make sure the videos you`re seeing from Ukraine are
real. Often in times of breaking news, especially if it takes place in a populated area, there`s a flood of information posted online. Some of it
like this footage of damage in a Ukrainian city is real.
It`s been a week since Russian forces invaded the Eastern European country and U.S. officials estimate that Russia has lost roughly three to five
percent of its military equipment in the war while the Ukrainian military has lost roughly 10 percent,
Because Russian forces are so much larger and more powerful, officials expect they`ll overwhelm Ukraine in the days to come. But conditions for
both sides are constantly changing and information is constantly evolving. The video you see here got more than 20 million views on TikTok with the
top comment claiming the soldier was recording an invasion.
But that`s wrong. The video is from an Instagram post in 2015.
This clip was recently shared on a Ukrainian government Twitter page as if it were real but the "Reuters" news agency said it`s actually from a video
game called digital combat simulator.
One thing I always tell viewers to do especially if they`re seeing news on social media is to check their sources. Did it come from a reputable news
site or a news network you`ve heard of? If so, chances are it`s been verified. If not it might be real, it might be fake news.
How exactly do networks like CNN go about verifying the videos we show?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE RESEARCHER: Social media footage has played a key role in our coverage of Ukraine making us able to identify
military movements and also possible attacks. But it`s also really important that we understand the footage is real and accurate and current.
And so, one of the ways we`ve been doing this is by geo-locating that footage, and here is an example of how our investigative team has been
doing that.
It was an alarming scene. Russian helicopters flying suspiciously low over an area just a few kilometers outside of Ukraine`s capital Kyiv, with large
dark plumes of smoke rising. The man filming says about of them flew by.
And at the time, this video first started circulating on social media February 24th, it was not yet confirmed the Russians were anywhere near
Kyiv. So our investigative team began looking to verify it.
So, the most important thing is to establish that this footage is recent.
We used reverse image search engines to check the video had not been circulating before February 24th. It had not. With that confirmed, we
needed to establish the location.
Social media post mentioned Gostomel airport 25 kilometers outside of Kiev, so we started there. Using Google Earth and Yandex Maps, a Russian search
engine equivalent, we zoomed in on the airport and began looking for possible locations what we then wanted to do was to geolocate it. And to
geolocate it, we did what`s called a panorama.
So we created various screen graphs from the footage that looked significant and we pulled up various different shots from the footage that
showed us key identifiable structures. The main most notable one was this yellow building here and there`s a small rooftop structure as well. You can
also tell that there are some White Houses and a grey structure here to the right.
Using these screen grabs, we then went back to our Google Earth to find any situation any location near the airport that matched that description and
luckily, we found this. Here`s a yellow structure, and there`s multiple White Houses and there`s also a grey structure nearby as well.
And because of that arrangement, because of the way they`re situated, that had to be the location near the airport where this footage was filmed.
So we know the date and we also know the location of that footage. Now with that verified, we were able to put that footage to use. And so we sent this
footage to CNN`s Matthew Chance and shortly afterwards he traveled to where we geo located on a map and he was then up live for CNN creating an iconic
moment where he was at the airport with Russian soldiers interacting with him and identifying that they were already so close to the capital.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
Which of these Major League Baseball events took place in 1972?
Pittsburgh won the World Series, Jackie Robinson retired, the first player strike was held, or the first division playoff was held?
The first time a strike canceled Major League games occurred in 1972.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Now for the ninth time, work has stopped in the Major Leagues and the organization just announced that opening day which had been set for
March 31st will be postponed and the first two series of regular season games will be cancelled. This is because of a lockout that started last
December. Lockouts are when owners decide to shut down team facilities while strikes by contrast occur when players refuse to work.
In both cases, the sticking point is usually a collective bargaining agreement -- a deal between the two sides for the show to go on. Players
salaries, free agency rules, postseason rules, they`re all part of a collective bargaining agreement. When the two sides couldn`t reach a new
deal last year, the lockout was announced and any trades or new contracts were put on hold. So now what?
Well, despite ongoing negotiations between players and owners, they`re still said to be far apart on an agreement. So unless either side gives in
or both of them find a compromise on a path forward more of the 2022 season could be lost.
Up next, it makes perfect sense that the Asian giant tortoise would be the giant-est tortoise in Asia. But poaching, illegal hunting of this animal
has made it critically endangered in Bangladesh. Meaning, there`s an extremely high risk it`ll go extinct in the wild.
The reasons why and the action being taken to prevent this are the focus of our next report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Asian giant tortoise was thought to be extinct in the country until 10 years ago when a few were
discovered in the wild with the help of this man.
And now conservation biologist Shahriar Caesar Rahman is on a mission to bring them back.
SHAHRIAR CAESAR RAHMAN, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, CREATIVE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE: We realized if we want to prevent extinction of the species from
Bangladesh, we must take drastic efforts.
STOUT: Rahman runs a conservation and breeding center for four critically endangered species of turtle and tortoise, in an effort to help restore
their populations in the wild.
RAHMAN: Unfortunately, most of the species are threatened with extinction. The major conservation challenges are hunting for food and pet trade and
the destruction of their freshwater ecosystem and forest habitat.
STOUT: On the front line is the Chittagong Hill tracks, a remote region on the Bangladeshi border with India and Myanmar considered a biodiversity
hotspot, but one that is threatened by poaching, logging and agricultural development.
Rahman first visited in 2011 and working with the indigenous mural community, he and his team train former hunters as parabiologists or
citizen scientists that collect data and monitor species to help protect local wildlife.
RAHMAN: We`re empowering them to be the guardian of the ecosystem, that they have been protecting for hundreds of years. Those people become the
ears and eyes for conservation. And eventually when the species are released back in the wild, these are the individuals who will be monitoring
them every day.
STOUT: While there, Rahman learned that a few Asian giant tortoises still existed in the region and the idea for the breeding center was born. These
juveniles have been bred from specimens rescued from hunters by Rahman`s team of parabiologists like Passing Mro.
PASSING MRO, PARABIOLOGIST (through translator): In the past, our family hunted. But today, we don`t hunt the tortoises. We make people understand
not to hunt them as they are on the verge of extinction. I feel very happy to work on it. If we don`t, the tortoises will have vanished from the
world.
RAHMAN: The captive bred are critical endangered Asian giant tortoises which are bred here in our center for the first time in Bangladesh. We`ll
be releasing these individuals back in the wild end of this year.
STOUT: His hopes for the future of the species in Bangladesh -- slow and steady wins the race.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Thanks to a really creative idea on TikTok, New York City`s Empire State building is virtually talking trash about other skyscrapers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It is so bad I want to give you a zero. But that`s not possible, so I give you a one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Why is this happening? Well, an Empire State marketing executive said they wanted to humanize the building, so they hired some folks to
attract social media followers by giving it a pair of critical eyes and a very big mouth.
What builders may build; empire tries to take down. No sticks, no stones, just insulins abound. It sounds and resounds the heap of trouble, down from
ground level, may only get higher because others may rise and fall, but only one`s an empire does it aspire to inspire copycats as it lashes out
it`s all about a talking bout of towering trash.
I`m Carl Azuz.
We`ve got only nice things to say in our daily shout-out. And today`s goes out to Lowell High School in San Francisco, California.
END
