CNN pulled a story on the massacre of Thai preschoolers and apologized Sunday over criticism that its journalists entered the day care facility where the children were slain and filmed the crime scene without permission, the Associated Press reports. The two CNN journalists involved were fined after authorities found that they had been working after entering on tourist visas, but they were cleared of wrongdoing for entering the day care center where more than 20 children were killed, deputy national police chief Surachate Hakparn said. He said journalists believed they had obtained permission to enter and film after being waved into the building by a volunteer or a health officer, and were unaware the person was not authorized to allow them in.
They each agreed to pay fines of $133 and leave the country, he said. Both journalists apologized, as did CNN International’s Mike McCarthy. He said his reporters sought permission to enter the building but the team “now understands that these officials were not authorized to grant this permission,” adding that it was “never their intention to contravene any rules.”