22.1.15

Going to the "NO-GO ZONES"


Maybe enough has already been said about the ridiculous information by Fox News about the “no-go zones” in Paris, but…

Fox News representatives have in the meantime expressed their excuses. Excuses or not, I wonder how an organisation with such (financial and human(?)) resources, based in a democratic country, can go out with so completely, biased, erroneous and non-documented information, but somehow, when it comes to Fox News, it’s perhaps not too much of a surprise?
  
I was however asked by some blogger friends to visit the “zones” in question. So, the other day I took the risk to make a walk in two of them.
 
The first one I visited is in the 20th arrondissement. I think that already the Google Earth view is sufficient to show that you can visit the area without too much of a risk. I took some photos of the few streets concerned. Nothing spectacular to find here, just an area where people live.


The second “zone” I visited, in the 11th arrondissement, is much larger. I didn't wish to give the impression that I tried to show only the nicer parts, so I took photos of all (I think) the streets and places.  This is a much livelier part of the city. The by Fox News indicated area is e.g. crossed by Rue Oberkampf, which in the evenings is a place to go for especially the younger Parisians, with a number of bars, restaurants, clubs…







Feel welcome to look on some of my previous posts about the 20th and the 11th arrondissements ... and judge if you are ready to visit them.

If you haven't already seen it: This is what the "Petit Journal", a daily French "mock news" program, made about this event. 


If you don’t mind, I guess I will forget about making “inspections” of the other zones indicated by Fox News. 

Addendum, January 23: I would more than firmly recommend that you read what our blog-friend "Vagabonde" just published on "Charlie Hebdo and French satire" and on "On Voltaire and tolerance". You van find her blog here.  

26 comments:

Julie said...

Thank you, Peter. I am sure just these two parts of 11th and 20th go to the point. To me they seem like many othe "non-touristy" parts of Paris. Parts where folks live. I am sure there are parts of cities in the USA which are similar, if not worse, I know there are parts of Sydney that show a bit of struggle-street, too. But there is no-where in Sydney that I am not prepared to walk.

Fox News is one of the reasons why many Americans are so ill-informed.

Jane Hards Photography said...

Thank you for responding to us bloggers and fb folks, to visit these areas. I know the suggestion was tongue in cheek, but this visual visit and review, clearly shows how wrong Fox News were. As an ex resident of Birmingham UK, the other city in question on their scaremongering report, I applaud you for doing this. The news if often these days better reported, factually via citizens of the places, especially bloggers.

Amanda said...

Peter, I hope you realize that Fox news is about propaganda, not news!

Virginia said...

Bravo! I knew you would get right out there and report for all us so that everyone can see how ridiculous their claims were. Will we see more? I'm sure you will love making the loooonggg climb to Belleville! :)
V

Studio at the Farm said...

Peter, thank you for your diligence in photographing these "hot zones". Yes, Fox news is notoriously biased :) I wouldn't even qualify it as "news".
Kathryn

e said...

Fox News isn't news. isn't worth watching. I get my foreign news from BBC and I live in the States. Thanks for doing this.

Alain said...

Il me semble, qu'il y a quelques années, la presse Française disait à peu près la même chose de New York.

Lude said...

OMG you risked your life for us! ;-)

Lude said...

OMG you risked your life for us! ;-)

Thérèse said...

I am so glad you did this Peter.
I'll even sent this link to a few of my friends who are hard believers in Fox News... Hard sometimes to have Republican friends but I have republican friends.
We, as you know, lived 25 years in the States and I can tell you that for fun we even watched Fox news for a couple of minutes at a time to see what was happening on that side of the spectrum and each time it was smiles but to think that there are people who watch only Fox News!
Because the "no go zones" in Paris (as well as in England) is only one of the regular "non sense" they try to relay.
And they do have journalists working for them in Paris!
Anyway Peter, thanks for this post.
It's a good thing though that you now know that you can travel friely in the "zones."

Julie said...

I had to chuckle about Alain's comment. That would not surprise me. There is not a lot of love lost between the two nations, IMO.

claude said...

Mince alors, moi qui veut aller à Paris en juin prochain !
Si je comprends bien il faut que j'évite la partie de la capitale au nord de la Seine.
C'est du grand n'importe quoi !

[G@ttoGiallo] said...

I pay tribute to a blogger who fears nothing!

Rob said...

Happy you are safe and made it in and out of these dangerous "no go zones". The truth is dangerous!

Christine said...

Living in a 'totally Muslim' city, I am pleased to see more wonderful views of your city.
One of the results of the item about our city was that the British humour came to the forefront - we are now called Birming ..... the ham has been removed!!!!!
Well done!!

Vagabonde said...

So, Peter, French people have heard of our wonderful Fox News channel here in the US! I saw the funny French clip earlier and it is great. In a 2014 poll Fox News showed that 5 of its news programs were the most watched in the US – which gives you an idea as why the US public is so badly informed… They don’t report the news; they fabricate it then disguise it as news. Here in the South, that is the only channel most people watch. At my doctor’s office last time they were showing a French official speaking in French and it was being translated totally incorrectly – I just could not believe it, but knew the public would.

You certainly showed with your pictures that the Paris no-gone zones look just like the rest of Paris where most people live (not the tourist zones where most foreign people visit.) But it does not matter to the Fox News public; they usually have already made their minds up and like the news to agree with their ignorant views. In another poll, it showed that the public watching Fox News was the least informed, that people not watching TV knew more about the news… I read a book by a guy who had been a “mole” at Fox – he said that on every floor at Fox News they showed other TV news channels so that they would know the real news, then they would change it according to the management extreme right views. They are not “fair and balance” but teach hate and intolerance and were the top news channel for French bashing (and still are.) A couple years ago they were sued for telling lies, but they won their case because the courts declared it was freedom of speech which included freedom to lie! I really enjoyed your post and the clip.

Profile Not Available said...

Danger is your middle name. :)

Graça Pereira said...

Uma história de terror...
Abraço
Graça

Rob Siemann said...

Scary! I'm glad I've lived in the 19eme! And I've spent recently a few weeks in a hospital in the 18eme: I'm counting 3 more white hairs!!!

Anonymous said...

Fox News is full of crazy makers. It's just entertainment at it's worst. I get my news from France 24.

Alexa said...

You are truly an intrepid reporter, Peter! I'll be visiting in July—maybe we can put on body armor (or disguises) and stroll through Belleville together. :~}

Jeanie said...

Well, Peter, I think your traveling in no-zones is over until you decide there's something there you really want to photograph. Sort of looks like everywhere, doesn't it -- which is exactly the point.

I'll tell you, I'd love to open up and spill on Fox News (NOT) -- talk about a biased and twisted news service. But I think that this report that launched your Parisian zone tour, really says it all. They're narrow minded, ignorant fools who are afraid of their shadows. Consequently, they'll attack anything without knowing much about it. It's terribly sad, really.

Thanks for sharing this post. It's definitely something people should see.

Anonymous said...




Dreaming of Swimming: The artistic process takes on Parisian pollution: http://crosscut.com/2014/06/11/education/120475/dreaming-swimming-artistic-process-donald-fels/

There's always hope...even in areas called...what was it?
M. Francois Hollande's ideas for helping the young are responsible for this.......

Maria

Jilly said...

Well done Peter! You took a lot of photos to show us this area. Everyone here was incensed by Fox News. I believe they said something similar about Birmingham in England and they were up in arms too. Hope the Mayor of Paris does sue Fox News!

Anonymous said...

Fox news is for morons who think that The Flintstones was a documentary.

Andrew said...

Years later we learn that Paris and the no-go zones are just what Fox News had claimed or worse. The terrorist attacks on Charlie Hebdo killings and the music venue demonstrated the extreme intolerance and violence of the no-go zones is not in fact limited to them so in that way the reporting was misleading people to think as long as folks stayed away from the no-go zones everything was fine in Paris. Now, we know nothing could be further from the truth.