Tennessee TV News Station Runs Hysterical Piece Painting Muslim Community as Terrorists
This, via Andrew Exum of CNAS, has to be seen to be believed. A Tennessee TV news report portrays an entire Muslim community in the state as a possible terrorist training program, despite having absolutely no evidence that the secluded community engages in any dubious activity at all. The reporter on the piece, Nick Beres, actually gives airtime to evidence-free speculation that something nefarious is going on in Islamville, Tenn., despite the local sheriff telling Beres that nothing illegal has been observed in connection with the place. Beres even gets a tour of the community that turns up nothing. But that doesn’t stop him from presenting two women who go about their business as “running away,” as if they needed to hide their secret stash of chemical weapons. The title of the report? “Inside Islamville: Is A Local Muslim Community Tied To TERRORISM?”
A better question is whether Beres and WTVF-TV, which aired the segment, are tied to journalism. After the evidence-free slander hit the airwaves, reports Jeff Woods at the Nashville Scene, the following vandalism occurred:
“„“Muslims Go Home” and a Crusade-style cross were scrawled across the front of Al-Farooq Islamic Center on Nolensville Road, says Salaad Nur, a spokesman. He says the mosque, which primarily serves members of the Somali community, has contacted the police and the FBI.
“„“They also left a letter at the youth center that says Muslims are friends of Satan and we are here to destroy the United States and to destroy Israel and things of that nature,” he says. “We’re a little bit shaken up. I hope this is just a scare and things don’t get any worse than this.”
Here’s a video clip of the segment:
