Lou Dobbs Invites Basta Dobbs Onto His Show

Radio and television host Lou Dobbs has received quite a bit of backlash from Latino and immigration groups for his relentless anti-immigrant, anti-Latino rhetoric. In the past, he’s dismissed or berated these groups as he continues on with his particular agenda.

But now, perhaps in light of the publicity and attention CNN has garnered for its two-part Latino in America series, the network has decided to invite one of Dobb’s most vocal detractors, writer and advocate Roberto Lovato of Basta Dobbs, onto his program.

As a means of providing a little bit of background, here is Basta Dobbs’ mission, in their own words:

BastaDobbs.com exists to change how the media reports on Latinos and immigrants in the United States, starting with the worst offenders: Lou Dobbs and his network, CNN. We focus on Lou Dobbs because he, more than any other media personality, has obsessed about and given voice to the most extreme views about immigrants and Latinos. And yet, because CNN refuses to translate Dobbs into Spanish, too few Latinos and immigrants are even aware of the role he plays in spreading fear and hatred in our communities.

The campaign is organized by the online Latino advocacy organization Presente.org, with which Lovato is also affiliated. 

Lovato graciously accepted CNN’s invitation to appear on Dobbs’ show - under one condition:

Thank you for your invitation to appear tonight on the Lou Dobbs Show. I would be happy to accept under one condition: that alongside me appears CNN President Jon Klein as a participant in this important discussion.

I request Mr. Klein’s participation because, as much as the BastaDobbs.com campaign targets your long history of faulty, incendiary reporting and its effects on Latino communities, our issue is not with you so much as the network that provides you with a platform. Indeed, the more than 65,000 people who have joined us in calling on CNN to cut ties with you have given up hope that you will engage in honest dialogue or change your ways. Over the years, you have time and again perpetuated myths and stereotypes about immigrants and Latinos, promoted the most extreme voices of xenophobia and hate, and refused to acknowledge your pattern of inaccuracies. At this point, the only question remaining is whether Mr. Klein and the rest of CNN’s management want you to remain associated with their network.

This is a brilliant move on Lovato’s part as it takes CNN’s apparent mission to exploit the media attention it has garnered both from Dobb’s incessant anti-immigrant hate speech and from the bone it has thrown to Latinos in the form of Latino in America and reveals these for what they are - an attempt at drawing in numbers. By appearing on the program alongside Jon Klein, Lovato would effectively take control of his own image and place the blame where it belongs - with those who continue to milk attention and advertising dollars out of Lou Dobbs’ xenophobia while simultaneously attempting to pander to its Latino audience.