Fox News Apologizes ‘Morning, Noon And Night’ For Inflammatory Comments

Fox News, after making several anti-Muslim claims that had no basis in reality, apologized “morning, noon, and night,” reports CNN.

The network was forced to take time out of four separate broadcasts on Saturday in order to issue an apology for four separate instances of anti-Muslim commentary, including several false claims about so-called “no-go zones” in Europe, where Islamic law supposedly supersedes local law. “No-go zones” have been mentioned several times on Fox News, and critics have questioned the validity of the claims, as well as the reason why such claims are being made, believing that the Fox News network is advancing a narrative meant to frighten viewers as well as one that is deriding to peaceful Muslims.

“Fox & Friends” co-host Anna Kooiman issued one of the apologies on Saturday for her show’s program that aired the previous week, which, as they reported, “showed a map of neighborhoods labeled as no-go zones.” It was a French comedy show that pointed out that the map used was identical to a map made by the French government to highlight poor neighborhoods in need of help.

“Some of the neighborhoods were highlighted incorrectly,” Kooiman said.

“We apologize for the error.”

Another of the apologies made by Fox was also because of a so-called “no-go zone.” Jeanine Pirro was forced to issue an apology for the fact that her guest, Steve Emerson, had said that Birmingham, England, is a “totally Muslim city where non-Muslims don’t go in.” Emerson’s claim was ridiculed for its inaccuracy, and, as the Inquisitr reported earlier, sparked a viral outrage. Pirro was forced to issue a correction, as well.

“Last week on this program, a guest made a serious factual error that we wrongly let stand unchallenged and uncorrected,” Pirro said, admitting 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.”

Another apology was issued over a poll that was used to measure support for the terror group ISIS in Europe.

Julie Banderas, an anchor for the 1 p.m. Fox News broadcast, asked guest Jessie Jane Duff about the poll, and Duff responded as follows.

“The EU poll shows that 69% of the Muslims in France actually support I.S., ISIS. And not only that, when you look at that same survey, throughout all of Europe, it’s relatively very similar, as high as 40% in some locations.”

Just a few hours later, Fox News’ 4 p.m. anchor Eric Shawn had to issue the following apology.

“We at Fox News have subsequently determined that that poll is not credible, and should not have been used or referred to, and we apologize for that error.”

Banderas returned to the anchor desk at 7, and she was the Fox News host who issued a blanket apology for the numerous errors Fox News had made over the past week.

“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.”

“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, 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. We deeply regret the errors, and apologize to any and all who may have taken offense, including the people of France and England.”

Pirro, on her 9 p.m. show, also said “we deeply regret these errors.”

But her show’s weekly internet poll seemed to show that she wasn’t quite that sorry, asking her audience: “Will our free speech suffer so that we can say nothing negative about Islam?”

[Image via the Huffington Post]