Paris Is Suing Fox News

Fox News' slip up in the reporting of so-called French "no go zones" led to a brief amount of embarrassment for the network. They were forced to come on air and formally apologize for their mistakes when the Prime Minister of Britain came out and said that Fox's "terrorism analyst" was "a complete idiot".

However, these no go zones weren't just reported in England, but also in the City of Paris. Sean Hannity put it as;

"they have no-go zones. If you’re non-Muslim, you’re not allowed. Not police, not even fire department if there’s a fire. Sharia courts have been allowed to be established. Prayer rugs in just about every hotel.”

Steve Emerson, the "terrorism analyst" that came on the program (however, his credibility is likely in question), said that;

And they’re places where the governments, like France, Britain, Sweden, Germany — they don’t exercise any sovereignty so you basically have zones where Sharia courts are set up, where Muslim density is very intense, where police don’t go in,”

Then, Brian Kilmeade of Fox and Friends decided to comment saying;

 “Nobody gets jobs, they don’t want to be French. They just want to live in Europe and take over the country.”

Following these outrageous (and unjustified) comments, Parisian lawmakers officially gave Anne Hidalgo (the city's mayor) permission to sue the U.S. based program. The mayor is taking up the Murdoch-owned program on charges of defamation. Dori Ann Hanswirth, who is representing Fox, told AP;

"The decision by the City of Paris to bring legal proceedings against a United States news organization is antithetical to free speech."

Although Fox did apologize for the "regrettable" factual errors, I cannot find myself feeling as though freedom of speech is at a huge loss over this lawsuit. Fox has been known to embellish the truth of stories (as have many other stations, ahem, Brian Williams). Perhaps it was far beyond time someone say that false stories and lying about the news in order to heighten view count is simply wrong.

The news is suppose to be a safe haven that the people can rely on. However, lately, it seems, stations are less and less concerned with the legitimate truth. This is a truly disturbing trend, and I hope that it end swiftly.

That's all I have to say today, but I'll be back tomorrow.

"Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens." -J.R.R. Tolkein