DETROIT—During a newscast
Thursday night WDIV news anchor Carmen Harlan apologized for marking remarks on
air that Arab groups criticized.

In a broadcast aired live on
Channel 4 News on May 6, when asked about a possible, unauthenticated
“ISIS threat in Michigan”, Harlan suggested that she was “not
surprised because Michigan has a very large Arab population.”

Harlan’s apology comes after ADC-Michigan
Director Attorney Fatina Abdrabboh stressed concern about the far-reaching
impact such comments can have on communities of Arabs and Muslims living in
Michigan.

“This shocking lapse of
professional conduct was directed against law-abiding citizens who strive to
create vibrant, diverse communities wherever they live. Naturally, this type of
analysis is very problematic for our community as we watch the impact of
blanket indictments on the Arab-American and Muslim community that have nothing
to do with the ISIS phenomenon at all. We hope this extremely insensitive,
derogatory comment can be redacted and an immediate apology is in order. An
apology that is at least as far reaching as her initial comments that cast
doubt on Arab Americans living in metro Detroit.”

In a 35 second video Harlan
apologized and said, “As a journalist the words we chose
are means of importing information and on occasion can be misunderstood.
Following a story last night on ISIS threats in the United States including
Michigan I remarked metro Detroit has the largest Arab population out there
outside the Middle East. In no way did I mean to imply that because of our
community’s make-up there was a higher risk of ISIS threats. If a
misunderstanding occurred, it must have, that was never my intent. For that I
apologize.”