Fox News Saturday Backs Off of “No-Go Zones” Talking Point
When I first saw this I thought it was the Onion!
But apparently, yesterday at four separate times Fox anchors uttered retractions of the no-go zones narrative they’ve been pushing all week. Of course, the haters will just say Fox is too liberal and I’m sure Hannity isn’t just going to scrap all of the programming he’s been planning for next week.
Fox News apologizes 4 times for inaccurate comments about Muslims in Europe
By Brian Stelter, CNN
In the morning, it was light:
Earlier on Saturday, on the morning show “Fox & Friends,” co-host Anna Kooiman referred to the previous week’s program, when “we showed a map of neighborhoods in France labeled as no-go zones.”
“Some of the neighborhoods were highlighted incorrectly,” she said. “We apologize for the error.”
But by late afternoon Fox anchors (including Julie Banderas) had shut down reporting a disreputable poll that claimed nearly 70% of French Muslims supported ISIS and at 7pm were apologizing “to the people of France and England.”
Julie Banderas at 7pm slot:
“Over the course of this last week we have made some regrettable errors on air regarding the Muslim population in Europe — particularly with regard to England and France,” Banderas said.
“This applies especially to discussions of so-called ‘no-go zones,’ areas where non-Muslims allegedly aren’t allowed in, and police supposedly won’t go.”
“To be clear,” she continued, “there is no formal designation of these zones in either country, and no credible information to support the assertion there are specific areas in these countries that exclude individuals based solely on their religion.”
“There are certainly areas of high crime in Europe, as there are in the United States and other countries — where police and visitors enter with caution,” she said. “We deeply regret the errors, and apologize to any and all who may have taken offense, including the people of France and England.”
Jeanne Pirro after 9pm:
“Last week on this program, a guest made a serious factual error that we wrongly let stand unchallenged and uncorrected,” Pirro said.
She went on to say that “the most recent census data, which is from 2011, indicates 22% of the population of Birmingham identifies themselves as Muslim. Also, we could find no credible source that indicates Birmingham is a so-called no-go zone.”
I wonder if Bobby Jindal will continue to double down on the no-go zones claim in his speech in London tomorrow?