While I disagree, Washington Post media reporter Erik Wemple wasn’t convinced Tuesday that the Breitbart News story about a CNN report on Muslim “no go zones” (originally found by Red State’s Erick Erickson) was much of a smoking gun proving the left-wing network’s partisan dishonesty. To Wemple’s eternal credit, though, his reporting did not end there.
Wemple dug deeper and found even more egregious examples of CNN anchors and guests reporting on the existence of Muslim “no go zones” in Europe. And in two pieces published since, Wemple blistered the network over its hypocrisy and dishonesty.
In a piece titled, “CNN, too, trafficked in ‘no-go zone’ chatter” Wemple uncovered about a half-dozen examples of CNN’s star anchors and numerous guests talking about Muslim “no-go zones” as fact. Keep in mind this is the same CNN that spent two days hammering Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal for mentioning these very same “no-go zones” in a speech Monday.
According to Wemple, as recently as last month, CNN anchors Chris Cuomo and Wolf Blitzer discussed “no go zones” in Paris as a fact of life. That same night, a guest on Anderson Cooper’s primetime CNN show talked of “751 ‘no go zones’ in France” and 55 more in Sweden. Cooper later spoke to another guest about these “no go zones.” The “no go zone” talk on CNN continued for the next two days surrounding coverage of the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
In a second piece titled, “CNN again hammers Fox News over ‘no-go zones,’ with a touch of hypocrisy,” Wemple points out that CNN is “bashing” Fox News over its reporting of “no go zones” without disclosing that CNN “relied on analysts who said pretty much exactly what some of the commentators on Fox News were saying.”
Wemple also takes CNN media reporter Brian Stelter to task for criticizing Fox News while downplaying CNN’s own guilt of doing the exact same thing:
Credit Stelter for mentioning that CNN had alluded to the “no-go zones,” but a heavier disclosure of CNN’s references was in order.
Here’s the shady Stelter quote in question:
This idea of ‘no-go zones,’ this idea has been largely discredited but it has been popular in right-wing media. Sometimes you hear it brought up on CNN as well and elsewhere as well. It’s a topic that deserves more reporting. I think one of the issues for Fox was, they were talking a lot about it with talking heads; they weren’t actually reporting on it. They weren’t going to these neighborhoods in Paris.
CNN’s half-dozen citations two months ago and a full-blown news report two years ago apparently qualify as “right-wing media” to Stelter — who has had a high-old time bashing Fox. Moreover, Stelter poses as an objective media reporter.
What this all boils down to, is CNN doing what it does best: lying about others committing acts of racism.
CNN is shamelessly attacking Bobby Jindal and Fox News for doing exactly what CNN did.
Moreover, Fox News has apologized numerous times for its “no go zone” reporting. Fox News made a mistake and made it right. CNN, on the other hand, has not apologized, is bashing Fox News for doing the same thing CNN did, and is currently lying to its viewers about its own role in the “no go zone” talk.
Note: Despite what the liars at CNN would have you believe, the debate over the existence of Muslim “no go zones” is far from settled. If CNN told me water was wet I’d ask for a second opinion.
John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC