Wednesday, August 5, 2009

CNN's Lou Dobb Problem



The New York Times, The Washington Post, Politico, the LA Times, and several other major outlets have reported on our ad campaign. In less than 48 hours, the ad has been viewed by more than 135,000 people on YouTube, and Bill O'Reilly aired it on his show in order to attack Media Matters. Unfortunately, CNN, having already allowed one of its premier hosts to promote racially charged conspiracy conspiracies, is now attempting to duck accountability by declining to run the ad on its network.

Yesterday, Washington Post Co. blogger Greg Sargent reported that he was told by a CNN source that "the network privately pressed cable operators not to run the Media Matters ad attacking Dobbs." CNN's attempt to prevent criticism of the network from running on its airwaves is unethical, underhanded, and, quite frankly, unacceptable. Let's keep the pressure on and make sure the ad runs as many times as possible on Fox News and MSNBC.

CNN's attempts to protect one of its premiere hosts from being held accountable for his promotion of fringe conspiracy theories have not gone unnoticed. During an appearance on Imus in the Morning yesterday, Dobbs said that "Klein, all of the folks at CNN, are just terrifically supportive ... [I] couldn't ask for more support." As I noted to you in previous emails, Klein's "support" has consisted of dishonestly claiming that Dobbs has merely covered the "phenomenon of the doubters" -- even though Dobbs himself has questioned the validity of President Obama's birth certificate. CNN owes its viewers more.

Help us show CNN that their attempts to duck accountability are not without consequences. Watch the ad and please help us run it as many times as possible:


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