CNN: America's most trusted source for immigrant bashing?

While promoting his new book on Glenn Beck's CNN Headline News program, Pat Buchanan claimed that Americans are "addicted to this myth" of the United States as a "melting pot," adding: "[W]e're going to end up with what [former President] Teddy Roosevelt warned against: a tangle of squabbling nationalities." Just this summer, Buchanan was a guest on CNN's The Situation Room and claimed that illegal immigration threatens to reduce America to "a polyglot boarding house for the world, a tangle of squabbling minorities."

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Buchanan, however, isn't the only one to whom CNN has regularly given a platform on which to espouse anti-immigrant rhetoric. CNN's own Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck regularly use their programs to spout anti-immigrant rhetoric. When it comes to immigration, is CNN really comfortable with the nasty tone its hosts are setting?

Dobbs has almost entirely devoted his program, Lou Dobbs Tonight, to advancing his right-wing views on immigration:

• During an interview on the May 6 edition of CBS' 60 Minutes, Dobbs defended a report by CNN correspondent Christine Romans -- initially made on his program in 2005 -- that used false statistics on leprosy to support baseless claims by an anti-immigration activist that there are "enormous problems with horrendous diseases that are being brought into America by illegal aliens." The day after the 60 Minutes interview, Dobbs and Romans again defended the false claim that "there were about 900 cases of leprosy [in the United States] for 40 years," and that "[t]here have been 7,000 in the past three years."

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• After Dobbs decried the Senate immigration reform bill as doing "absolutely nothing for border security" on his May 23, 2006 program, CNN correspondent Casey Wian characterized then-Mexican President Vicente Fox's trip to Salt Lake City, Utah, as a "Mexican military incursion." Wian then referred to the trip as "the Vicente Fox Aztlan tour" -- drawing a baseless link between Fox and the so-called "reconquista" movement, which purportedly maintains that portions of the American Southwest (territory referred to as "Aztlan") belong to Mexico. During Wian's report, CNN featured a graphic of "Aztlan" that was sourced to the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) -- an organization linked to white supremacists.

• In a discussion of a Wall Street Journal editorial on immigration during his December 9, 2005, show, Dobbs announced, "I support the Minuteman Project and the fine Americans who make it up in all they've accomplished, fully, relentlessly, and proudly." As you may know, the Minuteman Project has been touted by conservative outlets, despite controversy over its anti-immigrant rhetoric and vigilante-style tactics.

Similarly, Glenn Beck has long history of anti-immigrant rhetoric.

• During a September 25, 2006, discussion with radio host Pat Gray about an illegal immigrant who had been accused of killing a police officer in Houston, Beck asked: "Are you kidding me? We're taking rapists out of your country, and you've got a problem with that, and you're shipping killers to us? Please." Later in the discussion, Gray claimed that "we are in a war with Mexico right now." After Beck agreed that "we better wake up soon," Gray responded: "[O]r we're going to wake up dead."

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• Earlier that year, on the May 8, 2006, edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, Cooper interviewed Beck, then a recent hire, to discuss immigration. Cooper neither noted nor asked Beck about comments he had recently made claiming that there are three reasons that an illegal immigrant "comes across the border in the middle of the night": "One, they're terrorists; two, they're escaping the law; or three, they're hungry. They can't make a living in their own dirtbag country."

The question seems clear. Does CNN condone the use of this kind of repulsive anti-immigrant rhetoric?

I urge you to take action today and ask CNN to stop providing a platform for this kind of destructive dialogue and return the debate on immigration to a civilized discourse based on the issues. You can find CNN's contact information above on the right of this email or by clicking here.

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Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

David Brock,
President & CEO
Media Matters for America

P.S. Please help spread the word by passing this email on to your friends, family, and co-workers by clicking here.

BUCHANAN

On Glenn Beck, Buchanan repeated his claim that allowing immigrants from "the whole world in" the U.S. will lead to "a tangle of squabbling nationalities"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200711280008

Promoting his new book on Glenn Beck's CNN Headline News show, Pat Buchanan claimed that Americans are "addicted to this myth" of the United States as a "melting pot," adding: "[T]here's no doubt that the American melting pot worked wonders with the folks that came from Europe from 1890 to 1920. But we had a 40-year time-out, and we had clashes in that period and it finally worked." Buchanan then claimed that "we're going to end up with what [former President] Teddy Roosevelt warned against: a tangle of squabbling nationalities." But while Buchanan has previously asserted that the United States must keep "Americans of European descent" from becoming a "minority," the targets of Roosevelt's ire in a 1915 speech were European immigrants.

On CNN, Buchanan said immigration will reduce U.S. to "a polyglot boarding house for the world, a tangle of squabbling minorities"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200608290001

On the August 28, 2006, edition of CNN's The Situation Room, conservative pundit, MSNBC political analyst, and former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan claimed that illegal immigration threatens to reduce America to "a polyglot boarding house for the world, a tangle of squabbling minorities." Further, Buchanan expressed his opposition to a majority Latino population in California, even if the Hispanic residents had all entered the United States legally.

On CNN's Glenn Beck, Buchanan criticized Bush for being "scared" to "antagonize" Hispanics because Republicans' "white American" base is "shrinking"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200608280004

On CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck, Pat Buchanan declared that President Bush is "scared" of "antagoniz[ing]" Hispanic immigrants because Bush and other leading Republicans believe Hispanics are "the one minority bloc we can get, and we need one of them because the white Americans, who have been the base of the Republican Party, are shrinking."

BECK

Beck to Mexico: "We're taking rapists out of your country ... and you're shipping killers to us"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200609270006

On the September 25, 2006, edition of his CNN Headline News program, host Glenn Beck, during a discussion with radio host Pat Gray about an illegal immigrant who has been accused of killing a police officer in Houston, asked: "Are you kidding me? We're taking rapists out of your country, and you've got a problem with that, and you're shipping killers to us? Please." Later in the discussion, Gray claimed that "we are in a war with Mexico right now." After Beck agreed that "we better wake up soon," Gray responded: "[O]r we're going to wake up dead."

CNN's Cooper invited Beck to discuss immigration; ignored Beck's past statements on immigrants, Mexicans
http://mediamatters.org/items/200605090004

On the May 8, 2006, edition of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, Cooper interviewed recent CNN hire Glenn Beck to discuss immigration, claiming that Beck is "hearing a lot on the subject" as a nationally syndicated radio talk show host. Even though Beck asserted during the interview that he has "no problem with immigrants coming in" to the United States, Cooper neither noted nor asked Beck about comments he has recently made regarding illegal immigrants, Mexicans, and Mexico.

DOBBS

Lou Dobbs Tonight didn't mention use of graphic from organization linked to white supremacists, even after CNN acknowledged it was "regrettab[le]"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200605250015

Despite a CNN spokeswoman's acknowledgement that the use of a graphic from the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) during a report on the May 23, 2006, edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight was "regettab[le]," the incident was not mentioned on the May 24 edition of the show. As Media Matters for America noted after a report by CNN correspondent Casey Wian used the graphic, the CCC is athe theory as "Aztlan") belong to Mexico. During Wian's report, CNN featured a graphic of "Aztlan" that was sourced to the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) -- an organization linked to white supremacists.

Dobbs: "I support the Minuteman Project and the fine Americans who make it up in all they've accomplished, fully, relentlessly, and proudly"
http://mediamatters.org/items/200512120004

During a discussion of a December 9, 2005, Wall Street Journal editorial on immigration on the December 9, 2005, edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, host Lou Dobbs announced, "I support the Minuteman Project and the fine Americans who make it up in all they've accomplished, fully, relentlessly, and proudly."

The Minuteman Project describes its movement as "a call to bring national awareness to the decades-long careless disregard of effective U.S.immigration law enforcement. It is a reminder to Americans that our nation was founded as a nation governed by the 'rule of law', not by the whims of mobs of ILLEGAL aliens who endlessly stream across U.S. borders." Among its activities is the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, groups of volunteers who monitor U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada to help stop what it calls "[t]he human flood breaching our Homeland Defense." The Minuteman Project has been touted by conservative outlets such as Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, which has featured Minuteman organizers and supporters, often without providing an opposing viewpoint.

CBS contributor Dobbs defends false leprosy claim after confrontation by CBS' Stahl
http://mediamatters.org/items/200705110004

During a CBS News interview with correspondent Lesley Stahl, which aired on the May 6 edition of CBS' 60 Minutes, CNN host and CBSEarly Show special contributor Lou Dobbs defended CNN correspondent Christine Romans' citation -- initially made on the April 14, 2005, edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight -- of the false claims that "there were about 900 cases of leprosy [in the United States] for 40 years," and that "[t]here have been 7,000 in the past three years."

During the 60 Minutes segment, Stahl noted Romans' claim "that there have been 7,000 cases of leprosy in the U.S. in the past three years," then said, "We checked that [number] and found a report issued by [HHS], saying 7,000 is the number of leprosy cases over the last 30 years, not the past three." She added: "[A]nd nobody knows how many of those cases involve illegal immigrants." When Stahl asked Dobbs about the inconsistency, Dobbs responded: "Well, I can tell you this. If we reported it, it's a fact." Colorado Media Matters and the Southern Pover ty Law Center have both noted that the numbers Romans cited were false.