By Adam Johnson
CNN is uncritically adopting the Donald Trump administration’s preferred label for Muslim nations caught under its arbitrary ban: “terror-prone countries.”
On at least three occasions since the executive order was signed, CNN has used the term without scare quotes or explicit reference to the Trump administration talking points, instead using the demonstrably incorrect and pejorative phrase as an objective descriptor of the nations targeted by Trump’s order:
- Trump Eyes Temporary Ban on Refugees (1/25/17)A senior White House official made it clear that Trump will not sign executive orders Thursday targeting the refugee program or immigration from terror-prone countries.
- Trump Signs Executive Order to Keep Out ‘Radical Islamic Terrorists’ (1/28/17)The order bars all persons from certain terror-prone countries from entering the United States for 90 days and suspends the US Refugee Admissions Program for 120 days until it is reinstated “only for nationals of countries for whom” members of Trump’s cabinet deem can be properly vetted.
- What to Know About Trump’s Visa and Refugee Restrictions (1/28/17)An executive order signed by Trump on Friday bans all people from certain terrorism-prone countries from entering the United States for 90 days.
In these reports, CNN is reflexively adopting a Trump talking point without any qualification or explanation. What’s more, it’s factually untrue.
As several outlets have noted (e.g., Intercept, 1/28/17; NPR, 1/27/17; Huffington Post, 1/28/17), since at least 1975, nationals from the countries Trump is banning entry from have killed zero Americans in terror attacks. Whereas countries that have had some of their citizens involved in US political violence (and sometimes even fund designated terror organizations), such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE, are entirely omitted from the administration’s list.
If stopping immigrants from “terror-prone” countries was the objective, the list Trump provided would make no sense. By adopting the Trump administration’s framing, however, CNN is treating it as a rational response to a realistic danger.
Smearing entire countries as “terror-prone,” of course, puts immigrants from these countries at risk at a time when xenophobic hate crimes are on the rise. Responsible news outlets should be discouraging scapegoating, not fueling it with lazy and malicious generalizations.
Given that no one, in or outside the administration, has shown how these countries’ nationals are more “terror-prone” than other immigrants, CNN’s adoption of the label is little more than mindless—and dangerous—stenography. CNN should only use the term in direct quotations from the Trump administration.
ACTION:
Please contact CNN and tell the network to stop adopting the Trump administration’s “terror-prone” label as its own description of the countries targeted by Trump’s immigration order.
CONTACT:
CNN Feedback: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/
Twitter: @CNN
Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective. You can leave copies of your messages to CNN in the comment thread.
Adam Johnson is a contributing analyst for FAIR.org. You can find him on Twitter at @AdamJohnsonNYC.