CNN, You Can't Have It Both Ways: It's Either Dobbs or Your Latino Future

On the eve of CNN's Latino in America series (LIA) -- its most important and expensive attempt to capture Latino audiences -- Latinos are of one mind about the two faces of CNN. I know this because I just spent the last two weeks traveling the country talking to Latino communities about Lou Dobbs and CNN. I got to meet some of the more than 50,000 people who, in just the last four weeks, have signed our petition at www.bastadobbs.com.

What I heard among the many voices that make up the Latino United States -- Puerto Ricans and Dominicans in New York, Cubans in Miami, Mexicans and Salvadorans and many others in the Southwest -- was an unexpected unity and an intense concern about CNN's Latino hypocrisy: thinking that a few hours of serious reporting on Latinos by sunny Soledad O'Brien can make up for thousands of hours of anti-Latino extremism from the dark Lou Dobbs. This paradox has Latinos everywhere asking questions about CNN -- and so far we haven't gotten much in the way of answers.

One questioner was Latino media executive Jeff Valdez, who, during the Los Angeles LIA screening, pointedly asked Soledad O'Brien, "Will Latino in America include Lou Dobbs?" The answer: no. That's right, four hours about the Latino experience in the U.S., and not a word on the country's most notorious anti-immigrant, anti-Latino "news" anchor.

"What do you think Latinos should do about Lou Dobbs?" asked another member of the audience. Obrien's response -- that we should watch and support positive depictions of Latinos like those of LIA -- satisfied no one; neither do the rumors that Dobbs has started talking to Fox News about leaving CNN.

At the New York screening of LIA, an audience member asked about how CNN squares Latino in America with the hatred that shows up on Lou Dobbs show every night. Visibly irritated by having to defend CNN over Dobbs, a CNN executive answered, "I have nothing to do with Lou Dobbs. I don't confer with Lou Dobbs. He has not seen this program. My unit has no contact at all. So I don't answer that. I don't have an answer for it." This, in a nutshell, is the CNN position: when the question is about Lou Dobbs, they have no answer.

Such questions by and about Latinos form part of a larger dialogue that will be at the center of this week's immigration reform mobilizations as well as in CNN's LIA premiere next week. At a time when polls indicate Latinos experiencing increased levels of discrimination -- a time when hate crimes against Latinos are on the rise -- Lou Dobbs' war on immigrants and Latinos occupies a central place in the hearts and questions of Latinos. People are noticing CNN's attempt to have its Lou Dobbs cake and have Latinos eat it too.

Among the most creative and committed to bringing CNN's hypocrisy into the national dialogue about Latinos is 26-year-old Mexican immigrant Arturo Perez, an award-winning filmmaker, who just produced an inspired and inspiring video about CNN's Dobbs problem. The fantastic film was born during dinner table dialogues about Dobbs that then teenager Perez and his mother held over the course of many years. These dialogues are now taking place in thousands of bilingual households throughout the country.

"We would listen to Lou Dobbs and my mom and I would get very upset," Perez told me. "Ever since I was a teenager, I got so angry that I sent Dobbs and CNN many emails correcting his "facts" and warning them about the dangers of the kind of lies and hate he spread about Latinos. He never wrote me back. So, now I get to talk to him through my video." Latinos, it seems, are clearer than ever that, thanks to Lou Dobbs, watching CNN has become an exercise in disrespecting ourselves and denying our dignity.

Of all the questions I heard in my travels, one of them sums up the issue better than all the rest. "Does CNN really believe that they can have it both ways?" asked Guadalupe Vazquez, a Mexican immigrant living not far from CNN's headquarters in Atlanta. "They're trying to make money by reporting on us (Latinos) with this (Latino in America) show and with CNN en Espanol at the same time as they're making money off of hating us with Lou Dobbs!" exclaimed Vazquez, who I met through a community leader in Atlanta. As if speaking for the mass movement calling out Dobbs and CNN, Vazquez added, "I'll be damned if I allow them to get away with it."

 

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Comments

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Clicking here will sign your name: "Rupert Murdoch should apologize and put an end to FOX's race-baiting, or admit he agrees with it."


Sign the petition

Dear MoveOn member,
Rupert Murdoch, owner of FOX and the News Corporation empire, just said Glenn Beck "was right" when he called President Obama "racist."1

This is a rare moment of candor from Murdoch, one of the most powerful media barons in the world.


Our friends at ColorOfChange.org are calling out Murdoch for FOX's long history of race-baiting.2 Can you add your name to the growing demand for Murdoch to apologize and end FOX's race-baiting? Clicking here will add your name to our petition:

http://civic.moveon.org/murdoch/o.pl?id=17925-9193653-Lh10JHx&t=3
The petition says: "Rupert Murdoch should apologize and put an end to FOX's race-baiting, or admit he agrees with it."

ColorOfChange.org has successfully urged over 80 advertisers to cut ties with Glenn Beck's show after he called President Obama "racist."3 Murdoch is now backpedaling to keep advertisers from dropping FOX altogether.

[Julio Varela]

I think the issues here are several:

1. Dobbs has his opinions and I think most rational people take offense to how he portrays the issue, not the issue of illegal immigration. Dobbs could present his arguments with less sensationalism, but I guess that doesn't get you ratings.
2. I have to respectfully disagree that "Latino in America" was truly commendable. The show was uneven and I was so disappointed in how the show lacked any true depth. Let's just focus on the hot-topic issues, do a piece on Hollywood, raise issues about crime because crime is really all what Latinos are aboout. The lowrider segment as being "the Latino way" was solid journalism too. Please do not pontificate about "Latino in America." It may have had good intentions, but it missed the boat at the end.

[US55588144]

Dobbs was right about Illegal Aliens. The problem is that most people don't understand the meaning of illegal. I'll miss Dobbs and his position on illegals.

[vince7]

I guess the rule of law is out of the window? Why not just disband the border guards and have an open house. I remember as a kid back in the late 60's asking why spanish was being put on the instructions of many products? I am from Richmond, Va and back then the only spanish users I knew about were Zorro and the Cisco Kid. Reagan was wrong to grant amnesty in the 80's. All of the dire predictions have come true.

I have given up on any federal office holder keeping their oath of office. It was ok back in 91' to fight the invasion of Kuwait but ok to leave our own borders defenseless. If we can't can't keep regular illegals out how can we expect to stop dedicated terrorists? I see people that I know are "fresh off the boat" with cars and bank accounts and businesses. Whose identity do you think was stolen?

As an Afro-American liberal, I still believe that no one or group is above the law. This wink and a nod approach to guarding our borders has to stop. This is not a civil rights issue as with Blacks in America. To say it is, is cheapening what my people went through. The two movements have nothing in common. Like I have told many Blacks, I have a problem with a group channeling MLK and in the same breath say that Blacks are too lazy to work.

[US55588144]

I'm white and I agree with you completely. We're real Americans, the Illegals are not and never should be.

[Agreste Muras]

I don't know why people get upset with Lou Dobbs. People should be upset to CNN, and watch,read, listen to "real" news channels. CNN is a shadow of what they used to be. Mr. Dobbs makes those racist comments, he is in his right to do it. So, stop complain about it, and start using our right to switch to other channel, or turn the tv off. Maybe, it will help CNN Executives to think about the anchors they have.
No hay mayor desprecio, que no dar aprecio.

[bloodgimp]

How about their whole future. Real news seekers have already learned that they cannot trust CNN.

[gs-425]

are you insinuating that Lat ino's are against the rule of law? I wonder if Lou's Latino wife and kids think that....I know my wife or a sole in here extended family don't.

[gs-425]

Sorry...."soul"

[jakevankool]

Regarding the hue and cry over Dobbs, let's examine a bit or the basic underlying logic.

!. The U.S. is being invaded by illegal immigrants.

2. Due to the large and continuously porous border, the majority of the invasion force consists
of Mexicans and Central Americans.

3. Many, including Dobbs, oppose The Invasion of the United States.

4. The Usual Suspects, Loavto, et. al., have an ethnocentric agenda and therefore label
those who oppose The Invasion of the U.S. as racists and haters, thus blurring the obvious line between anti invasion sentiments and repackaging them as anti latino sentiments.

It's a tried and true trick, but it seems to only work with the Agenda Saturated who wish to believe it in the first place.

By the way, did you know that Dobb's wife is a latina ?

[honoursplendor]

"invasion force"??? --
His wife is Latina so he is given a pass to say whatever he wants? Sounds like the judge who refuses to marry the interracial couple but then admits that he has lots of black friends and he even let's them use his bathroom...

[yearlin]

you're right. just because someone opposes immigration in its current state doesn't mean they oppose latinos.

[MaxBenavidez]

Lou Dobbs is only one highly visible part of the problem. I don't know if he really believes all the trash he airs on Latino immigrants. It's really about ratings. The bigger issue is that Latinos need to define ourselves to the larger society. It's an ongoing process. The framing or defining needs to start with the fact that Latinos have played a role in this land since before the inception of the U.S. government. There's evidence that Latinos helped fund the American Revolution. We fought in the Civil War and every war since as heroes. We are patriots, period. We also have to answer the question about the legal status of immigrants. Yes, there are complex reasons why immigrants from Mexico and other countries come here. We have to take the dysfunctional Mexican government to task for its huge economic and educational failures and we have to help our own community educate the young people who are here. Dobbs is allowed to babble because he represents a point of view. CNN needs to put Latinos on the air who can voice opposing views and help frame this debate on its real terms not on racism and fear.

[mommadona]

Uh....CNN said "adios" a looooong time ago.

Wolf woof inserted here...

[textynn]

Send Dobbs to the Bargin Basement AKA FOX

[EmeraldWorld]

Ugh, I can't believe they're doing a "Latino in America". As if their "Black in America" series wasn't enough fodder for reinforcing stereotypes.

[yearlin]

you're absolutely right.

[jackiero]

ILLEGAL immigrants, not legal immigrants. Do I need to define the difference for you thick-headed people? ILLEGALS who are now pushing for amnesty so they can stay AND bring their entire families to live here. If I were a legal immigrant, I'd be pretty p!ssed that I wasted my time, energy, and money to do it the proper way.

[LBaby]

What you need to do is clean the cement in your ears and really listen to Dobbs - there is no difference to him ...

[RnR]

I've got news for you. In my border state Lou Dobbs' greatest supporters (and the people who got me watching him) are american born hispanics, who want you to know that they resent the onslaught of illegals demanding free services, health care, their jobs etc., etc.,

High school kids can't find employment, lower wage jobs are all taken ... by whom you might ask? Well, according to my Hispanic friends, by illegals working on one or the other of their 3 or 4 sets of false papers, or a relatives papers etc.,

There.

[Kouaich]

If somebody can not get a job against somebody with no paper, does not speak English, you have a problem.Stop blaming illegals for your lack of success. You are just incompetent.

[nee]

You don' t have to pay ILLEGALS minimum wages - that's why they get the jobs.

[smshirk]

What a ludicrous statement. In these cases where employers are willing to hire illegals, the advantage always goes to the illegal who will work for whatever pay is offered.

[VirginiaJeff]

RnR -- source?

[yearlin]

RnR is living in the thick of it...isnt that source enough

[PoliSci2008]

McDonald’s and retail stores used to be the place for teenagers to get after-school part-time jobs. Now they’re occupied by the illegal immigrant work force. American parents are struggling to meet their budgets just to accommodate their children needs b/c there’s no after-school jobs.

In the Public Schools, students and parents are frustrated and outraged, that a bi-lingual Teacher has to divide her time with those who can’t fluently speak & comprehend the English lesson. Again, American parents are placing their children in private school and furious about paying Education taxes when their children do not benefit from the tax.

And finally, American’s favorite past time, baseball at the local parks, is shoved out by soccer, or stroll through an amusement park is noticeably void of white, black or yellow Americans. American are seeing the change and they don’t like it.

I hear the concerns from all types of American citizens about the adverse effects of illegal immigration on their lives.

[chazmanr]

I suspect that you are completely wrong about McDonald's hiring illegal immigrants. This is a national chain. While I have never applied for a job at one, I suspect that they require the same documentation that every major employer who pays their employees by check (read traceable/auditable payments) does. I seriously doubt that the store managers are taking cash out of the till to pay illegal immigrants. Certainly in some construction and landscaping jobs where day laborers are used, there are illegal immigrants.

Here's a message for you zenophobes, not all hispanics/latinos are illegal immigrants. So do not assume that a Mexican cleaning a floor in a McDonald's is here illegally.

[PoliSci2008]

"I suspect that they require the same documentation that every major employer."

Boy! You're naive and/or just uninformed. Every border state has a street where SS#, DMV ID etc are sold for $$$. In my line of work, I have run SS# to locate people and will see not 1, not 2 nor 3, but 20 different hispanic names associated to just 1 valid SS#. And these 20 different names have worked for large automotive companies, retail, fast foods, the list goes on.

Now Sherlock, why in the world would 20 names be tied to 1 valid SS#?

[PoliSci2008]

I rarely watch Lou Dobbs, Rush Limbaugh or Glen Beck b/c of their biased opinions and ethnic code slants, but for the Latino community to make Lou Dobbs their anti-Latino poster boy is POINTLESS. The reason being is majority of voting Americans, including Mexican-American and Naturalized Americans, feel the same way as Dobbs does on illegal immigration, but without being or sounding r@ cist.

It isn’t about being anti-Latino, it’s about how much more can American cities, the economy, the schools, hospitals, and the infrastructure as a whole can sustain? It can’t sustain a nation of non-English speaking people b/c it puts too many demands on our economy.

For instance, thousands of otherwise qualified job applicants are denied employment in their field of specialty b/c the job description requires bilingual skills as a Teacher, a 401(k) Enroller, a Health Benefit professional, Park Service, Transit Drivers, etc. So you have college degree holders out of work, and this ain’t about the jobs Americans don’t want.

McDonald’s and retail stores used to be the place for teenagers to get after-school part-time jobs. Now they’re occupied by the illegal immigrant work force. American parents are struggling to meet their budgets just to accommodate their children needs b/c there’s no after-school jobs.

continue....