Were Investors in “Bridges TV” Misled?

From Daniel Pipes“”The Buffalo News carries a puff-piece today on the Nov. 30 opening of “Bridges TV,” a new cable channel aimed at American Muslim viewers. Its founder and chief executive officer, Muzzammil S. Hassan, 40, says he chose the name because its purpose is “to build bridges of friendship and understanding.” It all sounds great until one learns that the project’s $5-$10 million in backing from more than fifty investors seems to be based on an error: “Hassan was able to sell investors,” the Buffalo News’s Jay Tokasz reports, “on key demographics for the nation’s estimated 7 million Muslims.” A more accurate population figure of U.S. Muslims would be less than half that large. It is hard to imagine that hard-headed investors would put their funds into an operation premised on the mythical but faulty figure of 7 million Muslims in the United States, but if they really did, then I suspect it won’t be around very long.”