UPDATED: CNN declines to run Media Matters ad attacking network's Lou Dobbs

The liberal media watchdog group Media Matters for America is ratcheting up the pressure on CNN this week with a television ad slamming the network for allowing host Lou Dobbs to continue raising questions about President Obama’s birth certificate on the air.

In the ad, which Media Matters is seeking to run on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC for at least a week, the group spotlights Dobbs’ recent focus on the so-called birther controversy, fueled by right-wing critics of Obama who question whether he is really a citizen.

“Let CNN know there’s nothing ‘legitimate’ about racially charged paranoia,” the ad says. The spot will begin airing Tuesday in New York, Atlanta and Washington, including during "Lou Dobbs Tonight," the host's daily CNN program. CNN did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Dobbs has said that he believes Obama is a citizen but has continued to report on the rumors, saying that the president should produce a long-form birth certificate for the sake of “transparency.”

On his radio show Friday, Dobbs called Media Matters “a rabid, left-wing operation” and said the idea that it would run an ad against him “just really extraordinary.”

“It isn't an issue of legitimacy; it isn't an issue of citizenship … because I believe he's a citizen of the United States,” he said. “It's an issue of just being open, transparent -- deliver the goods and be done with it and move on. … If it's not openness and transparency, then it's pretty much arrogance on the part of this president, that he's above the very same principles that were followed by, amongst others, John McCain throughout his campaign.”

Late last month, CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein told Dobbs’ producers in an internal e-mail that he believes the supposed controversy is a “dead” story. But in an interview, he defended Dobbs’ coverage and said he had not issued a directive for him to drop the topic.

Dobbs has raised most of the questions about Obama’s birth certificate on his nationally syndicated radio program. His most recent reference to the issue on CNN was on July 28, when he reported that the director of the Hawaii Department of Health said she had seen Obama’s original birth certificate on file.

“That official repeated her opinion that the president was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Aug. 4, 1961,” Dobbs said.

UPDATE: After CNN objected to the spot, most major cable providers declined to run it on that network.

“CNN retains the right to object to any ad run by the cable operator on our network whose purpose is to attack CNN or our employees,” the cable news channel said in a statement. The ad will still air on Fox News and MSNBC in New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C., during the 4 p.m. PT hour, the same time that CNN runs “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”

-- Matea Gold

RELATED:

'Birthers' must be stopped' by Bill Maher

Comments

[Captain Steve]

I agree with Lou Dobbs! I don’t trust ANY politician and almost no one in the media. I still want two answers.

1) Why can't we see his long-form? Obama knows that millions of citizens want to see it yet he continues to hide it. What/why is he hiding?

and most disturbingly,

2) Why don't BHO's supporters want to know the whole truth, especially since there’s a reward of $100,000 for proof that Obama is a "natural born" citizen of the United States.

OBAMA, STOP HIDING. SHOW US THE LONG FORM BIRTH CERTIFICATE!!!!!

[pipian]

It is funny how the left wing attacks anyone who questions them. Of course, the right wing would do the same if they had the media in their back pocket too.

[leo]

great job,media matters.....theres no place for racist on mainstream media,
leave that to the internet anonymous vermin who hangs around here

[Dennis Sein]

Does anybody actually listen to Dobbs? or Limbaugh, or Hannity or Coulter, or Oreilly, or Beck, except for the pure comedy of it all??

[Tom Mariner]

Lou Dobbs -- "Racially Charged"? Because he and his network are trying to get ratings up?

Mr. Dobbs is the only news anchor that lets CNN not be called a "Far Left branch of Media Matters". I see him and think that what CNN puts out is "fair and balanced". Media Matters already has credibility below the National Enquirer -- you'd think they would be more careful with the race bomb to attack someone they fear.

[Jack Henry]

It was the Bush administration that certified Obama as a legitimate candidate. He could not have run without the approval of a Republican controlled election certification. This is just an attempt to get ratings using the same tactics as Fox "Entertainment" News. And just like Fox, CNN has no cred.

[GeeCee]

Apparently, when you have nothing, you just keep going with the same old tired, empty subject.

[Gisele]

Great ad! Lou Dobbs gives me a headache!

[Christine Beatty]

Dobbs is a one-note (illegal immigration) blowhard whose falling ratings necessitates he do something extreme to get a bump. Jumping on the tinfoil hat brigade might work in the short term for him, but in the long run it only hurts his credibility as a "journalist." In the end, he'll have so damaged his reputation he'll only be suitable for FOX (who doesn't need him because they already have a cranky old man in O'Reilly).

[papau]

The Birth Certificate: The certificate put on the Internet by Obama and held up by the media was created in 2007. In the lower left corner of the form there is reference to a Hawaiian statute that was revised in November of 2001, and if you look closely at the front you can see bleeding through from the back the date stamp from 2007 when the document was created. It's a certification that an original does exit.

The Newspaper Announcements: Two birth announcements from Hawaiian local papers show Obama's birth. The Birthers have a couple of good arguments about them. First, Hawaii is where Obama's grandparents lived and it's not unusual for grandparents to announce a birth to their friends, even if the grandson lives elsewhere. Also, if Obama's parents lived in Hawaii then moved to Kenya when they birthed him, it wouldn't be unusual to announce the birth in the old neighborhood for friends to see.......they are hearsay documents.

School Records: The Birthers believe that Obama's records from college and graduate school will show he matriculated as a foreign born student.

Financial Aid Records: how was his very expensive tuition at Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard Law School paid for. Did he receive financial aid as a foreign born student"

Obama's mother is known to have been in Kenya when she would have been 8 months pregnant with him -and airlines at that time refused passage to Hawaii to long term pregnant ladies at that time - so showing up in Hawaii with a new born could mean an African adoption that no one speaks about.

[papau]

Why spend money for lawyers when showing the documents is definitive and free? What is there to hide?

[LinuxForMe]

If Barack Hussein Obama would just PRODUCE HIS BIRTH CERTIFICATE, there'd be no problem. His REAL, un-Photoshopped, long version birth certificate. Heck, he could even produce HOSPITAL RECORDS from the Hawaii hospital he was [supposedly] born in. Why not authorize that hospital to release AUTHENTICATED photocopies of his birth records?

That announcement in the newspaper proves absolutely NOTHING. It's just an announcement that he was born--not WHERE he was born.

If Obama had nothing to hide, he would've produced any/all of these documents a long time ago.

[Clifford Dawson]

I think the smell of the Horse and Pig manure on his Ranch has finally gotten to Lou,he belongs on Fox with the other looney tune cast of characters,as if the country isn't in enough crap as it is.Lou go back to the farm.......

[D. Rumsfeld]

Even though he knows it's not true, Dobbs continues to give time to the nutso birthers. What's next, Holocaust deniers? You decide.

[wtobias]

yes media doesn't matter is right. how dare Lou dobs report story's that they disapprove of it should be a crime to speak out against president elect obtain its OK to say things like steal doesent melt and George bush caused 9-11 its OK to say that bush broke the law even 8 years of kangaroo Congressional hearings that's fine McCain isn't a citizen the wackos are every were i hope the media does not matter crowd soon learn that by speaking out against free speech they just show how much they are not for the constitutional rights of Americans to speak out even if they are kooks

[thebob.bob]

The "Liberal" media watch group?? I guess correcting inaccurate reporting by the corporate press and calling out the lies from Faux News isn't journalism. I guess telling the truth IS the mark of a Liberal.

[myfailsafe]

One of the biggest racist on Cable, and that really says a lot!
Too bad, I really enjoyed He's delivery of business news. Used to watch him a great deal, but when he started on illegal immigration, and kept going on and on, he's true colors came threw. This insane (I voted for McCain) birth certificate issue on Obama just convinced me that this cook really is a racist...............

[Isaac]

I'm glad Media Matters is exposing "racially charged paranoia" with the Obama birth certificate B.S. . Perhaps Media Matters can do the same in exposing the years and years of immigrant and anti-Mexican bashing on the part of Dobbs. It is part of a consistent and harmful right wing campaign that also harms race relations(it's not exclusively about black and white in the XXIst century....).

I look forward to an ad on this subject from Media Matters (and wholeheartedly endorse the work that they do in general).

IA

[JB]

What is wrong with Lou Dobbs? I think he needs to see a psychiatrist, just like all the other crazies (Republicans) out there who keep bringing up stupid stuff like this.

[john paul]

I myself have signed the petition at http://fireloudobbs.com asking that CNN fire Lou Dobbs. I hope they get enough signatures to show CNN that we mean business.