WebDocuTemplate CampaignOverview

PRESENTE Launches Unprecedented
National Campaign Demanding
CNN stop Lou Dobbs (www.bastadobbs.org)
CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW
Hate crimes against Latinos and immigrants are increasing, reflecting
a rising tide of anti-Latino sentiment in the United States.1 At the
heart of this growing xenophobia are media personalities like Lou
Dobbs, who give voice to anti-Latino views even as their networks
court Latino viewers.
On September 15 and 16, Dobbs will once again make clear his
alliance with anti-immigrant groups, broadcasting his radio show
from the hate group FAIR’s “Hold their Feet to the Fire” antiimmigrant lobbying days.
PRESENTE.org, a national online organizing effort that seeks to
amplify the voices of Latino communities, is leading a grassroots
campaign against anti-Latino sentiment in the media, starting with
the worst offender: Lou Dobbs and his network, CNN.
Together with dozens of partner organizations, Presente.org is calling
on CNN to choose between profiting from news about Latinos and
profiting from hatred of Latinos disguised as “news” on its Lou
Dobbs Tonight show.
UNDERSTANDING CNN & LOU DOBBS
o
CNN claims to be “The Most Trusted Name in News,” but on its Lou Dobbs Tonight the network
promotes lies, exaggerations and fearmongering towards Latino. (See below: The Case Against
Dobbs.)
o
CNN does not translate Dobbs into Spanish, meaning that those most impacted by the extreme views
Dobbs promotes—Spanish-speaking Latino immigrants—don’t hear about Dobbs and his hateful
speech.
o
Latinos are the largest minority in the United States, and CNN knows it must increase its Latino
audience. So at the same time CNN profits from Dobbs’ brand of “news,” the network is urgently
courting Latinos, as evidenced by their CNN en Español network, their upcoming Latino in America
series, and their addition of Rick Sanchez and other Latino talent.
o
The appetite for Dobb’s brand of “news” is waning. Since Dobbs began promoting myths about
President Obama’s birth certificate, his audience has decreased 15 percent in total viewers.2
THE CASE AGAINST DOBBS
o
Lou Dobbs is consumed by the topic of immigration. In a total of 140 broadcast hours from January 1
through July 23, 2009, The Lou Dobbs Tonight show had 77 broadcast hours that included briefs,
segments, and panel discussions on the topic of immigration.3
o
Dobbs uses faulty reporting to promote myths about immigrants and Latinos:
o
•
Immigrants and disease. Dobbs helps popularize the myth that Latino immigrants are flooding the
United States with disease. For example, Dobbs falsely reported an explosion of 7,000 cases of
leprosy in the United States in the past three years, and blamed Latino immigrants for the
perceived increase.4 Dobbs has continued to defend his reporting even after the statistic, sourced
to a radical right-wing author, has been thoroughly debunked.5
•
Immigrants as criminals. Dobbs has also claimed that “"Illegal immigration is costing this country
at least a hundred billion dollars a year in depressed wages, social costs, the cost of incarcerating.
Just about a third of our prison system is made up of illegal aliens."6 The statistic has been
contradicted by the U.S. Department of Justice, which reports that immigrants make up a tiny
proportion of the US prison population.7
•
The Reconquista. Dobbs has repeatedly reported on the “Reconquista” movement, which
allegedly advocates Mexico reconquering the southwestern United States. At one point, Dobbs
used evidence from a white supremacist group to make his case.8 This myth, which has been
discredited as a fringe view, is a blatant attempt to characterize Mexican immigrants as an
invading army, as opposed to what the vast majority are: job seekers.
Dobbs promotes the views of extremist groups and leaders:
•
Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). Dobbs has regularly featured the hate
group FAIR on his show, and has even used his media access to promote FAIR and its extremist
views, as he will do when FAIR lobbies in Washington on September 15 and 16.
•
The Minutemen. Dobbs has stated his unequivocal support for the vigilante Minutemen
movement, saying: "I support the Minuteman Project and the fine Americans who make it up in all
they've accomplished, fully, relentlessly, and proudly."9
•
Sheriff Joe Arpaio. While Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio is being denounced as a violent racist by
elected officials and Latino leaders throughout the country10, Lou Dobbs wants to see more Joe
Arpaios, calling Arpaio “a model for the whole country.”11
•
The Birther Movement. Dobbs has used his CNN program to promote thoroughly discredited
right-wing rumors about President Obama not being born in Hawaii.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT DOBBS
o
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox. “The Lou Dobbs are of no help to nobody, I mean the way
he behaves, the way he uses media to criticize, to discriminate, to attack Mexicans in the United States
and his position on this doesn't help at all, even CNN is -- I mean is putting this on such a high spot. 12
o
Congressman Joe Baca, Chair of Hispanic Caucus of US Congress. “The language of Lou Dobbs,
Bill O’Reilly and Glenn Beck is divisive and inflammatory and often misleading. It only creates fear,
hatred and negative stereotyping of immigrants… Dobbs is the most guilty of the reckless,
irresponsible journalism.”13
o
President Obama. “A certain segment has basically been feeding a kind of xenophobia. There’s a
reason why hate crimes against Hispanic people doubled last year [sic],” Obama said. “If you have
people like Lou Dobbs and Rush Limbaugh ginning things up, it’s not surprising that would happen.”14
Join PRESENTE in calling on CNN to Stop Dobbs
Visit www.bastadobbs.org or send a text message with the word ENOUGH to 30644
1
"Hate Group Numbers Continue to Increase" SPLC Report Vol. 32, No. 1
http://www.splcenter.org/center/splcreport/article.jsp?aid=238, Spring 2007
2
Michael Calderone, "Dobbs ratings dip since 'birther' report" Politico.com,
http://www.politico.com/blogs/michaelcalderone/0709/Dobbs_ratings_dip_since_birther_report.html, July 31, 2009
3
"Dobbs Immigration Obsession is Out of Step with CNN's News Coverage," Media Matters for America,
http://mediamatters.org/print/research/200907270039, July 27, 2009
4
Lou Dobbs Tonight, CNN.com, http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0504/14/ldt.01.html, April 14, 2005.
5
MALDEF “Leprosy and Lou: Fact-Checking Lou Dobbs,” http://www.maldef.org/truthinimmigration/leprosy_and_lou_factchecking_lou_dobbs3202008/, Accessed September 14, 2009.
6
American Morning, CNN.com <http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/28/ltm.04.html> March 28. 2006
7
David Leonhardt, "Immigrants and Prison," New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/business/30leonside.html, May
30, 2007.
8
Alex Koppelman, "CNN Stands by Lou Dobbs' Racist Fantasies," The Huffington Post, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alexkoppelman/cnn-stands-by-lou-dobbs-r_b_21617.html, May 26, 2006
9
Lou Dobbs Tonight, Transcript from CNN.com, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0512/09/ldt.01.html, December 9, 2009
10
“Sign the Petition to Investigate Sheriff Joe Arpaio” MALDEF,
http://maldef.org/truthinimmigration/sign_the_petition_to_investigate02262009/ , Accessed September 13, 2009
11
Lou Dobbs Tonight, CNN.com, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0704/30/ldt.01.html, April 30, 2007
12
Lou Dobbs Tonight, CNN.com, http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0904/10/ldt.01.html, April 10, 2009
13
Lou Dobbs Tonight, CNN.com, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/21/ldt.01.html, May 21, 2008
14
Lou Dobbs Tonight, CNN.com, http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0805/23/ldt.01.html, May 23, 2008