The Ethical Optimist

I received an interesting email this week, and I’d like to share it with you:

This week, CNN will launch its “Latino in America” series, which tells the stories of Latinos from across the country. There’s just one thing missing: Lou Dobbs. That’s right. Four hours about the Latino experience in America, and not a word about the man who spends every weeknight telling lies about immigrants and spreading fear and hatred toward Latinos.

To call out this hypocrisy from CNN, the folks at Presente.Org have launched a new video: “CNN Can’t Have it Both Ways.” Please watch it, and then add your voice to the call for CNN to get rid of Dobbs:

http://bastadobbs.com/video/?ref_by=1337-38419

The campaign against Lou Dobbs is clearly getting to him — he’s railed against his opponents on his radio show,[1] and rumors are swirling that he’s looking for other jobs at more conservative networks.[2] Now is the time to keep the pressure on. Please watch the video, sing your name, and share it with your friends and family.

It is interesting how social media can be used now to quickly spread the word about an issue, and use the media’s own tools against it, such as editing to highlight comments in — or out of — context.

What also interested me is how quickly a media outlet can underestimate its audience.  I’m sure the series was an idea generated to tap into the growing Hispanic market and offer advertisers a unique opportunity to reach that market.  Little did CNN realize that they rattled the cage of an audience that has a growing political and social voice and will no longer stand by and allow a network to discriminate against them on one hand, while trying to market to them on the other.

My final thought, after watching the video, and hearing the vitriol spread on other networks was: What the hell happened to journalistic integrity? When did news become strictly editorial rather than unbaised? I’m increasingly concerned that Americans are being fed pseudo news from pseudo experts.  It’s no longer the smartest guy in the room doing the talking (ala Edward R. Murrow), but the loudest.  It’s a new form of if it bleeds it leads….only now, if it screams, it beams.

Kudos to the folks at Presente.Org for taking a stand and saying “no mas” to news that incites rather than informs.