Group Reacts To Hiring Of Lou Dobbs

WASHINGTON  In response to Fox Business Network's announcement that it had hired former CNN host Lou Dobbs to host a show on their network, Media Matters for America, America's Voice, and LULAC released the following joint statement:

The wounds left by Lou Dobbs' CNN tenure have not been forgotten. He spent years pursuing a dangerous crusade against immigrants, and his last few months there were dedicated to pushing ridiculous conspiracy theories about the president's birth certificate. That style of 'journalism' may be par for the course at Fox, but that doesn't make it right. Lou Dobbs does not deserve a platform on any television network - even one with ratings as low as Fox Business Network.

BACKGROUND

Dobbs left CNN in November 2009 after repeatedly embarrassing the network by dabbling in absurd conspiracy theories about President Obama's birth certificate. Dobbs also caused friction at the network due to his coverage of immigration. Media Matters, America's Voice, and LULAC were previously members of the Drop Dobbs Coalition, which was launched to call attention to Dobbs' incendiary hate speech and falsehoods.

The Drop Dobbs Coalition included numerous national civil rights and other groups concerned about the kind of hate promoted daily by Dobbs on his television and radio programs, including NDN, National Council of La Raza, National Hispanic Media Coalition, The Hispanic Institute, Southern Poverty Law Center, Netroots Nation, Voto Latino, LCLAA, Center for New Community, Reform Immigration for America, the Dolores Huerta Foundation, the National Puerto Rican Coalition, and GALEO.

Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.