Earlier this week Fox News hosted Steven Emerson, an alleged terrorism expert, who claimed that the entire city of Birmingham, England was occupied by radical Muslims and was inaccessible to anyone else. His remarks were widely ridiculed, including by David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, who called Emerson an “idiot.” Emerson later recanted and apologized for his “terrible error.” But Fox wasn’t done embarrassing itself with false tales of horror.
Over at Fox & Friends, Elisabeth Hasselbeck interviewed a former Air Force pilot who claimed to have personal knowledge of the deterioration of French society. Nolan Peterson said that there were “741 no-go zones throughout France.” Peterson described his adventures in the wilds of Paris saying that…
“It was pretty scary. I’ve been to Afghanistan and Iraq and Kashmir, India, and at times it felt like that – those places in these no-go zones. […and that…] You see young men wearing Osama Bin Laden t-shirts in a hookah shop.”
Really? This veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq was scared of Paris? The segment was seen by Yann Barthès, the host of the French television program “Le Petit Journal.” His response was to mercilessly flog Fox and Peterson while exposing the glaring errors in their analysis. For instance, Fox made reference to a poll that said that 16% of the French people had a favorable view of ISIS. However, that poll was debunked by the Washington Post, a point that Barthès noted.
Fox also displayed a map of the so-called no-go zones in Paris which brought spontaneous laughter from the residents of Paris in the audience who knew better. In fact, the map was a document that indicated urban renewal areas where the government would direct resources for improvement. It had nothing to do with Muslims or terror. But Fox’s “mistake” inspired Barthès to courageously send his crew into the falsely slandered no-go zones for some person-on-the-street interviews. And just to be on the safe side, they were suited up in safety gear and helmets, which turned out not to be necessary.
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Fun Fact: Bill O’Reilly declared a boycott of France in 2007 because they refused to support George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq. In fact, you can still buy a Boycott France Bumper Sticker from his website.
[Update 1/18/2015:] So, after Fox News characteristically resorted to fear mongering and spreading disinformation, their lies on this occasion were so egregious that they were forced to apologize – FOUR TIMES!
For the record, the apologists were Anna Kooiman, Eric Shawn, Julie Banderas, and Jeanine Pirro. Don’t hold your breath waiting for Fox to do this the next time they lie (which happens multiple times every day).
Don’t forget if Romney were President ISIS would not exist, Putin would be ‘in his place'(whatever that means) and I’m sure this terrorist attack wold have never happened just like the 9-11 attacks never happened on a Republican’s watch. If you don’t believe me just ask the talking-idiots at Fox not news they will back up those claims.
I can’t agree. Most of what you detail happened under the Republican watch pf Bush & Chaney.
It’s called “sarcasm,” Chip. I understand your confusion, though; Republicans often sound like they are trying to be funny when they are actually trying to be serious. But they rarely call themselves “talking-idiots.”
What a bunch of crap. ISIS exist because Bush removed Saddam, period.
You clowns LOL
Fox news is a national disgrace. They lie, make stuff up, and keep their low intelligence viewers in fear. Free speech is one thing but Fox is constantly yelling fire in a crowded theater. They are bought and paid for by the rich and the Republicans. They are truly despicable.
You are 100% correct they are a disgrace, an embarrassment to the TRUE American People (who they in NO way represent). The Faux-Noise propaganda-network is nothing less then the indoctrination wing of the reich-wing corporate-fascist party (the republicans).
Another 100% agreement! Fox News makes US citizens appear to be total bafoons to the rest of the free world!
Next time you want to stop the world from viewing Americans as “BUFFoons”, please use spell check. Proper grammar & punctuation wouldn’t hurt none, neither.
“Proper grammar & punctuation wouldn’t hurt none, neither.”
Proper grammar & punctuation wouldn’t hurt, either. None and neither are double negatives, not proper in English.
Apparently you didn’t catch his grammatical sarcasm?
Has this “gem” been shared with the good folks at Fox? I REALLY think that they should be aware of how “popular” they have become overseas. An entire segment about their “fair and balanced” reporting on the horrors of France should make their day!
Oh yes, there has been a campaign in France to email Irena Briganti at Fox News directly and let her know how her fine network erred grossly. The result was public apologies by the 2 journalists who peddled the lies. Both of course claimed it wasn’t their fault 🙂
Tonight thznjs to Le Oetit Journal on Canal +, we sent thousands of mails to Michael Clemente, president at Fox! Revenge! :)) We had a good laugh in this horrific time. Toujours ça de pris!
I meant “Thanks to Le Petit Journal at Canal +…”
Somehow, i’ll bet it’s the fault of the “colored” guy in the White House. 🙂
We need to get this video to the John Stewart crowd. It would get nation wide attention and cause further ridicule for FOX.
such a great idea ! i’m already laughing !!!
When I went to France during the Bush administration, I wanted to have a note in my passport that read “I did not vote for Bush and never will.” Now I guess I would have to put in a note that read “I do not listen to Fox News.”
Can the conservative, jingoistic press get any more ridiculous? We will only have to wait to see what is next.
fix News does more to discredit America than any group on the planet. They make everyone in the US look like raving idiots. To think they are the most watched turns my stomach, and lowers my optimism for the human race. I block Fox News just so I don’t have to skip through it.
Fox propaganda should be banned from USA T.V.
They are insulting to anyone with an IQ over 50
They should be held accountable for all the outright lying. Dish T.V. No longer airs their obsurd pregidus and I applaud their choice to keep this trash off the air
Former “Fox News” commentators and producers are saying that all the hosts are UNDER ORDERS from Roger Ailes to spin everything in favor of Republican goals (enriching the rich and placating the racists), EVEN IF IT MEANS MAKING STUFF UP. Further, they are told to never report, if at all possible, any news that reflects well on liberals and/or poorly on conservatives, NO MATTER WHAT THE TRUTH MAY BE.
I hope dish keeps them off. Keeps me frpm blocking it when they do updates….
Fox News should be considered hate speech.
Can we get Comcast to do the same, or are they “in bed” with Fox?
let’start a campaign of calling our television (cable) providers and insisting they totally remove fox from our channel lineups.
Imagine my surprise, having just returned from Paris, to learn that the neighborhood I lived in for 8 days and two of the neighborhoods I spent many happy hours in, are no-go zones. In Pere Lachaise and Belleville I found a weekly farmer’s market, the best Turkish lunch, and a lot of people who appeared to be from North Africa selling couscous. The no-go zones I found for myself are the Left Bank neighborhoods, former bastions of the people now taken over by the high-end vendors of virulent capitalism. A Swarovsky store kitty-corner from the cafe that 80 years ago incubated free-thinking. These are “never go back” zones. I’m betting that what made the non-central Paris neighborhoods so frightening to “Ken” and “Barbie” were the occasional Arabic writing (say, at a fabric store) and total absence of blonde hair. You guys gotta get out more.
Fantastic idea!!!
I hope the French people understand that Fox News is like a tabloid we have here called the National Enquirer. They take one little issue and build an entire pile of crap and lies around it to a point that it becomes completely ridiculous. Then they show it on TV and the folks in this country that are dumb enough to watch the program and believe the BS panic and donate money to the republican party. These are the same folks that vote in Tea Party Republicans because they hate our government and absolutely don’t want to pay taxes. Then in the next breath complain about our crappy roads and schools. Like only magic money can repair them. They make all of us Americans look stupid. These are the same people that believe Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, Bin Laden worked with Saddam, to plot the 9-11 attacks, President Obama was born in Kenya, and my favorite, that President Obama has built a prison camp in Alaska and thousands of railroad cars with shackles, because he is going to imprison every gun owner in the USA. Yes we have people that dumb in this country. As long as we do FAUX News will have an audience.
That’s grossly unfair! I mean, really, comparing Fox News to a respectable, even-handed journal like The National Enquirer? How dare you!
Rick you are spot on !
I go to Fox sometimes just to rile the posters who are frantically scribbling the most ignorant and vicious tirades against anyone that doesn’t agree with their hostile opinions. There is a complete absence of common sense or humor and a new posts appear at an alarming rate, mostly one crude sentence at a time but almost always berating Obama, his family and every word that ever comes out of his mouth. I stoke it up by trying to offer facts that disprove much of what they are spouting but really, these sad people are exceptionally angry, misinformed and very racist and have no interest in doing anything but take part in a Fox induced feeding frenzy.If these Fox readers and posters were sharks the water would boil and they would be gorging on each other. Checking just the posts and not even the reading the distorted stomach churning articles is a very unnerving experience which I am only able to do very rarely.
When others around the world wonder how Americans can possibly be so stupid, they only need to see the intentionally supplied misinformation on Fox News to understand how about half of all U.S. voters get their ignorance, prejudices and hate reinforced.
24/7.
And we really should be doing something more about it than just laughing at them.
The owners of Fox news, Rupert Murdoch and son, have been indicted by the legal system and their paper taken down because of their indictment for bribing the police and illegal wiretapping in Great Britain.
I visited the website of Nolan Peterson where he posted his own apology for his disastrous appearance on Fox. However, he shifted most of the blame to Fox, saying they were responsible for the map and that he never saw it.
That didn’t excuse his remarks slandering France. And he tried to characterize his fear mongering as being his recollections of being in Paris in 2005. What utter bullshit. He never made that distinction on the air and it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. What do his horror stories from ten years ago have to do with what’s going on today? But it is an admission that he hasn’t actually been in Paris recently, so going on Fox to talk about it is just plain dishonest.
For anyone who’s curious, he was mercilessly raked under the coals in the comments section of his own website.
Fox Noise strikes again. Guess Americans look stupid in France now. Thanks fox dumber!!!
From now forward just refer to the Fox village fools, as “Faux News.”
If bullshit was a penny a pound all fox faux News assholes would be Multi millionaires.
The are suffering from Optical Rectitus-Their eyeballs are connected to their assholes
and they have a shitty outlook on life.
Why we call Fox News, Faux news or Fox spews.
Lies!!!
I’m French and I know nogo areas do exist. Come in poor Paris suburbs, and see yourself.
In some areas, no police can’t go, no doctors, no firemen.
See an example in Montpellier: http://echelledejacob.blogspot.fr/2014/11/montpellier-50-jeunes-agressent-la.html
Google’s translation:
In the night from Saturday to Sunday in Montpellier, 40-50 youths attacked police and firefighters in the sensitive area of Petit-Bard.
Forty to fifty young people, some of whom had their faces covered by hoods and scarves attacked the police and fire in the night of Saturday 15 to Sunday, November 16, in the no mans’land Petit-Bard in Montpellier.
They threw stones at police, first in a car and then on foot, while the containers in which were placed gas cylinders were ignited. The incidents have caused no injuries or damage to vehicles.
Youth groups had already strained ambushes firefighters and police officers in the nights of Wednesday and Thursday to Friday in this no man’s land west of Montpellier.