Anti-Dobbs Movement Overshadows CNN's "Latino In America" Special

Posted by Liliana Segura, AlterNet at 2:30 PM on October 23, 2009.

Pobre CNN.

The cable news network hoped its "Latino In America" special -- a two-night "journey into the homes and hearts of a minority group destined to change America" -- would replicate the success of its Black In America series last year, which was watched by more than 13 million viewers. Instead, the series has been eclipsed by a growing controversy over CNN's resident xenophobe, Lou Dobbs, and an expanding movement to get him booted off the air.

Last Sunday, a headline in the New York Daily News read: "CNN's Ramping it's 'Latino in America,' But it's Getting Ruined By Lou Dobbs."

The report quoted Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, a national pro-immigration reform group, who said, "the truth is that CNN already airs a nightly program on Latinos in America. It's called 'Lou Dobbs Tonight', and for 260 hours a year CNN provides air time for anti-immigrant distortions and anti-Latino propaganda."

A couple days later, the Associated Press caught wind of the fact that the much ballyhooed special -- it has its own Facebook page -- virtually ignored "its own commentator ... whose persistent advocacy against illegal immigration has angered many Hispanics."

The story quoted immigration activist Roberto Lovato, who calls Dobbs the "gigantic, anti-immigration elephant in the room at CNN."

"Rather than address him, they decided to just avoid the issue," Lovato said.

Lovato heads up Presente.org, which has spearheaded the movement now called "Basta Dobbs."

"Lou Dobbs uses his platform on CNN to spread myths and misinformation about Latinos and immigrants, even as his network is wooing Latino viewers," the Basta Dobbs website reads. "It’s time we said enough (that's "basta" in Spanish). Join us in calling on CNN to get rid of Dobbs!"

AlterNet has long supported Lovato and his co-conspirators -- in no small part because a piece he wrote for us was the subject of an angry tirade by Dobbs on his radio show a few weeks back, in which Dobbs called Lovato a "flea" and "a typical left-wing activist coward propagandist." (We take this as the highest form of flattery and hope Lovato does too.) We are pleased to report that this past Wednesday, on the eve of CNN's "Latinos In America" special, events and rallies were held at 18 cities across the country, from Albuquerque to Atlanta, where CNN is based, calling on CNN to drop Dobbs and re-evaluate its coverage of Latinos.

“Lou Dobbs is the media personality that most circulates hateful messages about Latinos on a network that purports to be the most trusted name in news,” Favianna Rodriguez, a co-founder of the Basta Dobbs campaign, said on Wednesday.

Here in New York, protesters gathered outside CNN's offices in Manhattan. "What comes out of Lou Dobbs' mouth is hatred for Latinos and undocumented immigrants in the United States," Lovato said at the rally, noting that Dobbs's support of extremists has had deadly consequences, as in the case of a nine-year-old girl named Brisenia Flores, who was killed with her father in Arizona this past spring by members of the Minutemen, a so-called "civilian defense corps" against undocumented immigrants.

"Lou Dobbs is not telling his audience to go out and kill and hurt and attack immigrants," said Lovato, "but he provides a platform for those that do."

On Thursday, the "Latino In America" story was picked up by the New York Times, which noted the series's omission of portions of an interview with Isabel Garcia, a civil rights lawyer who was featured in the documentary. "She said she called [notorious Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio] and Mr. Dobbs 'the two most dangerous men to our communities,' and added that 'because of them, our communities are being terrorized in a real way.' She also asserted that CNN was 'promoting lies and hate about our community' by broadcasting Mr. Dobbs's program. The comments were not included when the interview was broadcast."

What a surprise.

To learn more about Basta Dobbs, go here.

Liliana Segura is a staff writer and editor of AlterNet's Rights and Liberties and World Special Coverage.