CNN forced to apologise after threatened with defamation lawsuit after Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is called a paedophile on New Day.

CNN has been forced to apologise after it was threatened with a defamation lawsuit after Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was called "a paedophile who lives in the Ecuadorian embassy in London" on CNN's Ameritrash morning show New Day seen globally on CNN International (DStv 401).

The Americentric New Day, like The Lead with Jake Tapper, Erin Burnett Outfront, State of America with Kate Bolduan and others, is one of several bad "news-lite" shows that's been taking over the CNN International schedule in an ongoing and misguided CNN Domestic programming creep that's all steadily worsening CNN International's programming offering.

More and more filling the CNN International schedule with trash-talking and opinionated "infotainment" blabber-programming of often dubious news value, shows like New Day doesn't really serve African or other international viewers watching on platforms like MultiChoice's DStv across the African continent.

At its most damaging these shows are negatively impacting CNN International's news credibility with its bad mistakes, and at its least damaging a lot of its mindless content is simply wasting time and is irrelevant for specifically African and other international audiences.

The CNN New Day apology came after Wikileaks, on Twitter, threatened to take legal action against CNN for alleged defamation over Julian Assange being called a paedophile, unless CNN, within 48 hours, broadcast "a one-hour show to "expose of the plot".

CNN then apologised for New Day, where the former CIA counter-terrorism official Philip Mudd made the comments, saying "an analyst on our air earlier today asserted that Julian Assange was a pedophile, and regrets saying it".

"In fact, CNN has no evidence to support that assertion. Assange is currently wanted for extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault allegation there, and no evidence suggests that the women involved were minors. We regret the error".

CNN also deleted a tweet that included a video clip from its New Day show.

In late-2016 CNN used the on-air chyron "Alt-right founder questions if Jews are people" on The Lead with Jake Tapper, that was also broadcast on CNN International, for which CNN was heavily criticised.

Programming note: Julian Assange talks about the uncertainty of the world as he faces uncertainty of his own.

Today on RT (DStv 405) Julian Assange will be talking to the two leading intellectuals Noam Chomsky and Tariq Ali in his weekly talk show The Julian Assange Show (quietly rebranded from the original The World Tomorrow) at 13:30 (South African time).

Both will be talking about the future of global movements such as the Arab Spring and the Occupy Wall Street movement in today's 11th episode.

These intellectuals share their views about the history of change, how changes are made in general, how movements are created and kept alive and share insights into where things are going now.

The discussion today about the world's future comes at a time when Julian Assange is facing a lot of uncertainty of his own.

After the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom denied his appeal of extradition to Sweden, the Wikileaks founder has sought refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has been awaiting a decision on political asylum, or a guarantee that Sweden won't extradite him to the United States on Wikileaks-related charges.

BREAKING. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange launches his weekly talk show on RT with Hezbollah leader as his first guest.

Julian Assange has launched his new weekly talk show on RT (DStv 405), The World Tomorrow, with Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanese political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah, as his first guest.

RT is replaying the first episode of The World Tomorrow every 2 hours on Tuesday; more repeats will follow during the week. The interview with Hassan Nasrallah was the first done and shown on Western television since 2006.

The pre-recorded interview, done through a videolink from England where Julian Assange is in house arrest in London, had two Arab translators. "A lot of the things that we have been trying to report have not been carried accurately in the mainstream press," Julian Assange said.

RT describes the guests who will be appearing on The World Tomorrow as "politicians, revolutionaries, intellectuals, artists and visionaries". Julian Assange said "my own work with WikiLeaks hasn't exactly made my life easier, but it has given us a platform to broadcast world-shifting ideas."

BREAKING. The World Tomorrow, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's new talk show to start Tuesday on RT; promises a 'notorious' first guest.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange - currently under house arrest - promises a notorious first guest for his talk show with the news channel RT (DStv 405) which just announced that Julian Assange's brand-new interview show, The World Tomorrow, will start this Tuesday (17 April) at 13:30 (South African time).

ALSO READ: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange getting his own TV show, The World Tomorrow, on RT from March.

MultiChoice which carries RT, neither include the channel in online listings nor provide an electronic programme guide (EPG) on DStv (which makes the recording of specific shows and setting reminders impossible) - but RT in Russia tells me The World Tomorrow will debut at 13:30 (South African time) on Tuesday [07:30 in New York; 21:30 in Sydney].

RT will also make full episodes of The World Tomorrow available online, as well as behind-the-scenes content on the official The World Tomorrow website.

Instead of the initially announced 10 episodes there will now be 12 half hour episodes of The World Tomorrow with several repeats of every weekly episode. 17 April is significant for Julian Assange since it marks the 500th day of "the international blockade on WikiLeaks funding".

The World Tomorrow is recorded in London in a secret location where Julian Assange is holed up who's been under house arrest for over a year without being officially charged, awaiting a decision on possible extradition to Sweden over allegations of sexual assault.

Julian Assange will be interviewing people who he says is ''shaping the global agenda of tomorrow". Julian Assange guests will include "figures who normally simply would not be given a voice on TV at all. What is fair to say is that the majority of what they have said to me, they could not say on a mainstream TV network."

"500 days now I've been detained without charge. But that hasn't stopped us. We're on a quest for revolutionary ideas that can change the world tomorrow,'' he says.

Julian Assange also explains why he chose RT as the channel on which to do his first TV show. "A lot of the things that we have been trying to report have not been carried accurately in the mainstream press. There are many, many fine exceptions but when we look at international networks there's really only two that are worth speaking about and that's RT and Al Jazeera."

"We do not want to kill the buzz and the intrigue by revealing the name of the first guest," says Margarita Simonyan, RT editor-in-chief in a just-issued press release. "But I have no doubts that this particular guest and this interview will lead to calls to shut us down from some especially hawkish personalities who have little respect for freedom of speech."

Here is the official promo of The World Tomorrow:

BREAKING. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange getting his own TV interview show on RT from March entitled The World Tomorrow.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is getting his own TV interview show on the 24 news channel RT (DStv 405) entitled The World Tomorrow starting from March.

"We're proud to host Julian Assange's new project,'' says Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT, in a just-issued press statement.

''RT has rallied a global audience of open minded people who don't take things around them for granted. Our viewers are open to the discussions that will be presented through Julians' show on our channel''.

In The World Tomorrow, Julian Assange will talk to political players, thinkers and revolutionaries and figures who - in his opinion - are shaping the political agenda of tomorrow.

Julian Assange is filming The World Tomorrow from the location of his house arrest where he has been confined, with no charge, for 413 days. Filming of his new TV show will start a week before his Supreme Court hearing.

''Upheavals and revolutions in the Middle East have commenced an era of real political change that is still unfolding,'' says Julian Assange. ''Wikileaks, as the world's boldest publisher, has been at the frontline of this global movement for change, and our project is designed to catalyse the global discussion about the world of tomorrow. Through this series I will explore the possibilities for our future in conversations with those who are shaping it''.