Michelle Leung, Media Matters
Fox News incited Islamophobic fears in its reporting on a weekly swim class at a YMCA facility that ensures the privacy of Muslim girls learning to swim, framing it as evidence that “Sharia law is now changing everything.”
In October, a St. Paul YMCA in partnership with the local police department decided to offer an hour long swim practice once a week to give Muslim Somali-American girls between the ages of 5 and 17 an opportunity to learn basic swimming skills, making considerations for the girls’ modesty and religious beliefs. On the December 2 edition of Fox & Friends, Fox’s Heather Nauert framed this story as evidence that “Sharia law is now changing everything”: (Read more or watch the video)