CNN’s decision to hire former New York Police Department (NYPD) deputy John Miller as an analyst this week is coming under criticism from some Muslim groups.
Miller is the network’s new chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst. Still, critics are slamming his hiring, noting Miller’s leadership of the NYPD unit during a controversial program concerning the alleged monitoring of Muslims in the city following the 9/11 attacks.
“For him to be able to take on a position that will give him a broader impact to an outlet that many of us trust is just another reminder of just how Muslims in our city are treated,” Shahana Hanif, a member of the New York City Council, told HuffPost this week.
“I hope that CNN is watching the kind of backlash and the response to this hiring, and they should take very seriously the voices of the Muslim community because we are viewers too. We too want objective news.”
Hanif isn’t alone with her remarks on Miller. Naz Ahmad, the acting director of Creating Law Enforcement Accountability in New York, a group that sued the NYPD over the surveillance program, contested whether Miller could be objective for CNN.
“The unwillingness to reflect upon the outcomes of what you have done and to not see that as a problem, I think that that suggests that maybe somebody’s going to have trouble being objective,” Ahmad said. “At the very least, don’t deny that it happened.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
