Fox News Withdraws Claims of "No-Go Zones"

[jsteele]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/01/18/fox-news-corrects-apologizes-for-no-go-zone-remarks/

"In its programming last night, Fox News issued two corrections on the matter, one of which acknowledged that 'we have made some regrettable errors on air regarding the Muslim population in Europe, particularly with regard to England and France.'"

She continued: 'To be clear, 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.'" (emphasis added)

The allegation about no-go zones has been made many times in this forum. Several times, other posters asked for support for the claim from sources more credible than Fox News. No such support was ever offered. Now we see why.

It's good that Fox acknowledged this error but disappointing that the network repeatedly broadcast such erroneous information. Hopefully Fox's audience will learn to be a bit more skeptical in the future.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/erik-wemple/wp/2015/01/18/fox-news-corrects-apologizes-for-no-go-zone-remarks/

"In its programming last night, Fox News issued two corrections on the matter, one of which acknowledged that 'we have made some regrettable errors on air regarding the Muslim population in Europe, particularly with regard to England and France.'"

She continued: 'To be clear, 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.'" (emphasis added)

The allegation about no-go zones has been made many times in this forum. Several times, other posters asked for support for the claim from sources more credible than Fox News. No such support was ever offered. Now we see why.

It's good that Fox acknowledged this error but disappointing that the network repeatedly broadcast such erroneous information. Hopefully Fox's audience will learn to be a bit more skeptical in the future.

Bobby Jindal has jumped on this ridiculous bandwagon. What a mess.

[Anonymous]

FOX News busted yet again for just making shit up, something that happens nonstop with them, though it's unusual that they actually offered a retraction and correction for once (unlike all of the false information they've put out there about Benghazi, the Affordable Care Act, the economy, et cetera)

That's what FOX News does 24x7 - make inflammatory statements, mislead, misinform, to generate phony conservative outrage in the hopes that conservatives can seize power. Too bad conservatives feel such a drive to resort to lies, even to the point of having multi-billion dollar infrastructure built up around lies. If only they put all that energy into something genuinely useful, helpful or productive for our country.

[Anonymous]

What is remarkable to me is that they actually bothered to admit it. Maybe someone said they were going to come down hard on Murdoch or Sky TV.

[Anonymous]

It's nothing new for Fox News to spout a load of imaginary inflammatory bullshit and try to pass it off as actual news - it's their M.O. for crying out loud. People have been taking issue with their faulty reporting for years but they never gave a shit because they never had to because there's always been plenty of ignorant pundits and politicians to come to Fox News' defense should any high profile official or agency complain. The reason they admitted their error in this instance is because the backlash didn't come from the usual suspects here in the US, it came from overseas. As soon as British Prime Minister David Cameron entered into fray and said that Steve Emerson was "clearly an idiot" Fox had no choice but to back off and apologize. If they just tried to ignore the outrage and keep quiet or dared to deny the fallacy of their claims they would have potentially ended up making enemies overseas - its one thing to be at war with liberals and Democrats here at home but to have all of England and France hating their guts too...that would be disastrous. They had to suck it up and say "Sorry" or lose all credibility.

[Anonymous]

Remember the 2012 elections when everything on Fox was 24-7 high gas prices, unemployment, national debt, etc.?

[Anonymous]

Maybe the only reason Fox retracted the information is because the prime minister of Britain called him an "idiot." That went viral.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's nothing new for Fox News to spout a load of imaginary inflammatory bullshit and try to pass it off as actual news - it's their M.O. for crying out loud. People have been taking issue with their faulty reporting for years but they never gave a shit because they never had to because there's always been plenty of ignorant pundits and politicians to come to Fox News' defense should any high profile official or agency complain. The reason they admitted their error in this instance is because the backlash didn't come from the usual suspects here in the US, it came from overseas. As soon as British Prime Minister David Cameron entered into fray and said that Steve Emerson was "clearly an idiot" Fox had no choice but to back off and apologize. If they just tried to ignore the outrage and keep quiet or dared to deny the fallacy of their claims they would have potentially ended up making enemies overseas - its one thing to be at war with liberals and Democrats here at home but to have all of England and France hating their guts too...that would be disastrous. They had to suck it up and say "Sorry" or lose all credibility.

It's astounding that they don't have to worry about accountability with their own audience. It's almost cult-like conditioning among their viewership, who over the last 20 years of FOX News have been conditioned to think of any other media sources as "lamestream state-run media" which they believe are never to be trusted. So, they trust FOX regardless of the fact that there are tons of independent media sources out there which can be used to independently verify info.

I mean, sheesh. Even Ronald Reagan said "trust, but verify" - today's conservatives just trust FOX and don't bother verifying - FOX tells them what they want to hear, the good, along with playing on their fears. So gullible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Bobby Jindal has jumped on this ridiculous bandwagon. What a mess.

First time he tries to make a foreign policy statement and he botches it. I'm sure the political consultants helping him prep for 2016 thought he was uniquely positioned to speak on immigrant issues. And now they have made it so he'll be seated at the kid's table with Rick Perry. Embarrassing.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't even matter. They've put the lie out there- there are going to be posters on this forum asking about "no-go zones" until the end of time. That's why Fox is so damn powerful- once misinformation gets out, it doesn't matter that you've apologized or retracted. That information is out there and some people will believe it forever.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:What is remarkable to me is that they actually bothered to admit it. Maybe someone said they were going to come down hard on Murdoch or Sky TV.

I'm surprised by the retraction also. The largest investor in News Corp after Murdoch is Al-Waleed bin Talal. a member of the Saudi royal family and, obviously, a Muslim. Recently, Murdoch tweeted:

"Maybe most Moslems peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible."

which suggests that even peaceful Muslims should be held responsible for the violence of other Muslims. This idea of collective guilt is not something limited to Murdoch, but it is a dangerous way of thinking. After a week or so Murdoch retracted the tweet. Almost at the same time, Fox retracted its allegations. It's possible that Murdoch's investment partner reached the end of his patience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't even matter. They've put the lie out there- there are going to be posters on this forum asking about "no-go zones" until the end of time. That's why Fox is so damn powerful- once misinformation gets out, it doesn't matter that you've apologized or retracted. That information is out there and some people will believe it forever.

It's going to be like death panels.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is remarkable to me is that they actually bothered to admit it. Maybe someone said they were going to come down hard on Murdoch or Sky TV.

I'm surprised by the retraction also. The largest investor in News Corp after Murdoch is Al-Waleed bin Talal. a member of the Saudi royal family and, obviously, a Muslim. Recently, Murdoch tweeted:

"Maybe most Moslems peaceful, but until they recognize and destroy their growing jihadist cancer they must be held responsible."

which suggests that even peaceful Muslims should be held responsible for the violence of other Muslims. This idea of collective guilt is not something limited to Murdoch, but it is a dangerous way of thinking. After a week or so Murdoch retracted the tweet. Almost at the same time, Fox retracted its allegations. It's possible that Murdoch's investment partner reached the end of his patience.

That would mean that Christians need to be held responsible for Anders Breivik, and that right wingers and libertarians need to be held responsible for cop-killing sovereign citizens.

[Anonymous]

They've been skewered by the French version of the Daily Show:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/20/world/europe/fox-news-becomes-unwilling-star-of-french-tv-show.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

It's kind of ironic because you'd think that "no-go" zones where government isn't allowed in would be a Faux News viewer's dream come true. Oh wait...not if they harbor a lot of Muslims...

[Anonymous]

You disappointed me. I read "Fox News Withdraws" and got so hopeful.