Basta Dobbs Campaign Turns Up the Heat

A coalition of Latino groups has been going after CNN host Lou Dobbs for spreading misinformation and fear about immigrants and Latinos. This week the coalition announced that 100,000 people have joined it in demanding that Dobbs be dismissed from the network.

“Our campaign continues to gain momentum and our message to John Klein [CNN president] and CNN is clear: We aren’t going away until Lou Dobbs is gone from the network,” said Roberto Lovato, co-founder of Presente.org, a national online advocacy organization coordinating the BastaDobbs.com campaign in conjunction with more than forty local and regional Latino organizations from across the country. “Our community is committed to making sure CNN knows that they can’t court Latino viewers while still allowing Dobbs to use its network to vilify us.”

The anti-Dobbs campaign has not been covered widely by the corporate media. But the Spanish-language media has given it more coverage. El Diario, a New York City newspaper, ran an illustration of Dobbs with a red slash mark through it and the word “hipocresia,” Spanish for “hypocrisy,” atop the illustration.

CNN and Dobbs are feeling the heat. Dobbs, on his radio show, has called Lovato delusional and “one of my fleas,” reports AP. “You’re trying to deny my rights while turning over this country to those who have no regard for our laws, our rules, our customs, the legal foundation of our country,” Dobbs said.

Despite the name calling, Dobbs producers invited Lovato onto Dobbs’s show. Lovato responded, “I would be happy to accept under one condition: that alongside me appears CNN President Jon Klein as a participant in this important discussion.” Needless to say, Klein didn’t agree to appear.

Lovato also responded to Dobbs’s claim that his free speech is at risk. Lovato sees it differently:

“You and others have suggested that we are seeking to abridge your free speech. Such arguments exhibit a shallow understanding of what the First Amendment protects. You are free to voice your opinions, just as we are free to encourage CNN to cancel your program. There is, quite simply, nothing in the Constitution that guarantees you a national news platform from which to spread misinformation, and invoking its protections is only a distraction from the real conversation. That conversation is about the future of CNN.”

The BastaDobbs.com petition to CNN President Jon Klein can be viewed here.