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Gary Shapiro
President & CEO of the
Consumer Electronics Association Posted: November 13, 2009
08:59 Am Reflections
on Lou Dobbs' Turbulent Departure
Lou
Dobbs quickly and unexpectedly announced his resignation from CNN
this week, terminating his reported multi-year contract with the
cable network. I have been calling publicly for months for CNN to stop
putting Dobbs on the air, so I think it worthwhile to reflect for a moment on
why his resignation was the right decision. Although some have decried CNN's
censorship of a self-labeled opinionated voice, I reject that notion. First
and foremost, I am a champion of the First Amendment. The Media Institute, a
non-profit organization that includes CNN and many other major news outlets
as supporters, recently honored me with their annual First Amendment award
for my work in championing free speech. I believe free speech includes the
right to be heard, but not everyone has a right to his or her own television
show. Lou Dobbs exploited his position as a news anchor with his own nightly
show and used it as a platform to advance his xenophobic and anti-business
agenda. Now that he has lost that platform, he can pitch an op-ed as readily
as anyone else can - and indeed his opinions belong somewhere other than on a
serious news network. What I
found most troubling about CNN's nightly airing of Dobbs' opinions and rants
was the fact that CNN was carried on screens in our nation's airports. Why, I
wondered, did airport managers force Americans, our overseas guests, and
airline workers to watch the worst face of America? Lou
Dobbs was on at prime time for one hour every weekday on CNN, and CNN is on in 48 major airports in
more than 2,000 passenger-waiting areas across America. CNN claims that more
than 223 million people are exposed to its programming in American airports
each year. What did they see and hear? Dobbs
railing against minorities and immigrants so much that outraged Hispanic
groups formally challenged CNN. Dobbs seeking to block trade with other
countries and insulting our best trading partners. Dobbs exaggerating the
proportion of illegal immigrants in jails and giving air time to a white
supremacist. Most significantly, what we got each day was not news, but
Dobbs' opinions. Dobbs
was an opinionated bully and he used his one-hour daily forum to espouse his
own brand of nastiness to those who do not look like him or have his American
lineage. Again,
I believe passionately in the First Amendment. Dobbs has the right to his
views, as repugnant as I find them, and CNN certainly had the right to air
Dobbs. But what I objected to most was the quasi-government agencies -
airports - making money by agreeing to expose those views to Americans and
our international guests. The
American Association of Airport Executives ethical code is replete with bars
on partisan activity and taking public policy prerogatives from the
government entities that own the airports. I'm glad that Dobbs' departure
from CNN means that those ethics no longer need to be translated to action.
But there is still a lesson for the future in the fact that Dobbs was allowed
in our airports at all. Now that CNN
has finally acted to get anti-immigrant, racist and
protectionist xenophobe Lou Dobbs out of our airports and off its airwaves,
this once well-regarded news outlet has an opportunity to reclaim its mantle. Marta
Garcia National
Hispanic Media Coalition, Inc. mgarcia@nhmc.org wwwnhmc.org Vicente " Panama" Alba "if you tremble with
indignation at every injustice "Let's be realistic, let's do
the impossible" Ernesto "Che" Guevara |
