CNN and Fox News have apologized for claims made on their networks for the existence of “no-go zones” in France and elsewhere across Europe where large populations of Muslims live by Islamic Sharia law and government authorities avoid. But did the apologies go too far?
Fox was first in hosting a terrorism analyst who wrongly claimed (he later apologized) that Sharia Law reigns in certain parts of France. Several other commentators made the claim during discussions of the newsroom attack in Paris by two Muslim terrorists that killed 10 journalists working for Charlie Hebdo, the satirical French magazine. Two Paris policemen also died in the attack.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper hosted a segment around the same time in which he referred to the “no-go zones.”
Fox issued several on-air apologies days later. “To be clear, there is no formal designation of these zones in either country and no credible information to support the assertion that there are specific areas in these countries that exclude individuals based solely on their religion,” said anchor Julie Banderas.
Cooper’s apology from Wednesday: “In the wake of the Paris attacks several guests on this program mentioned no go zones in France. I didn’t challenge them and twice referred to them as well. I should have been more skeptical. Won’t make the same mistake again.”
The blanket apologies may have been interpreted by viewers as complete renunciations of even the idea that there are places in France and throughout Europe that are densely populated with Muslims, highly dangerous and avoided by police or other authority.
Since both apologies, both Fox and CNN have only reported on the “no-go zones” in how they relate to comments by Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal, who has on multiple occasions maintained that these supposedly isolated, insular, non-integrated areas do exist.
Their reports take a skeptical tone toward Jindal.
“Did you know the term ‘no-go zones’ was wrong?” Fox’s Neil Cavuto asked Jindal in an interview on Wednesday. “We reported the same and we were wrong. We botched it. We apologized for it.”
A segment on CNN covering Jindal’s comments said the idea of “no-go zones” has been “discredited.”
This, even though the New York Times in 2005 reported on areas in France that have “become a symbol of France’s failure to integrate millions of Arab and African immigrants — many of them Muslims — and their French-born children and grandchildren.”
A freelance journalist who frequently covers and travels throughout the Middle East, told the Washington Examiner media desk that these areas do still exist, though emphasized that “no-go zone” is an unofficial label. He requested anonymity out of concern for the subject matter’s sensitivity.
“I know that these so-called ‘no-go zones’ exist, primarily in the northern Paris suburbs,” the journalist said. “They are certainly not closed-off communities to other non-Muslim individuals. While non-Muslims probably do tend to avoid certain areas, the problem has more to do with assimilating these communities into mainstream French society and its associated ideals and norms.”
A Times article published just days after the Charlie Hebdo attack focused on these neighborhoods in France, though “no-go zones” was not a term used by the authors.
“Vaulx-en-Velin, a dreary Muslim-majority suburb of Lyon, is France’s third-poorest city and representative of the problems,” said the story by Times reporters Adam Ellick and Liz Alderman. “Many youths simply call it ‘a ghetto.’ It might also be called the Other France.”
Ellick declined to comment on his experience reporting on these areas. Alderman did not respond to a request for comment.
Another journalist who used to live and work in France also said he had first-hand experience with these areas.
“They do have high concentrations of Muslims in them — in that they are often areas with a lot of immigrants and second and third generation immigrants from North and West Africa, but also non-Muslims from Africa, the Caribbean and Vietnam,” he told the Examiner, also on condition of anonymity.
This journalist said he used to live in one such area but that he never felt in danger. He said, however, that police entering these neighborhoods did tend to travel in groups.
