NEW YORK (YBH.ME) – After 30 years with the network, one of the originating anchors has left the last place-rated Cable News Network. Mr. Dobbs, at his request, was released early from his contract, set to expire in 2011. The veteran broadcaster will continue on AM radio’s “The Lou Dobbs Show,” available in all major markets. Launched in 2008, the show also streams live over the internet. Its portal describes Mr. Dobbs as “The Independent.”
Lou Dobbs resigns from CNN.
Pressure groups, long angry at Mr. Dobbs’ having a national platform from which to state his positions on illegal immigration, states’ rights and Federal intervention in financial and free market matters, claimed victory at his leaving the network.
Various boycotts and petitions requesting his removal had peppered CNN at least since 2003, when he launched a nightly feature on his show called “Broken Borders”, often focusing on citizens taking immigration matters into their own hands, be they Minutemen or border-patrolling Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
On October 29, it was announced shots were fired into Mr. Dobbs house, narrowly missing his wife who happens to be a Mexican-American. On October 21, Mr. Dobbs long-prepared documentary, “Latino in America” aired on CNN. It was immediately decried by various progressive and immigration groups as “racist”, “race baiting” and, in the mildest language, “one-sided.”
Most controversial was Mr. Dobbs support of the position, back in July, that current U.S. President Obama may in fact not be a U.S. citizen, putting him on the side of the so-called “birthers” who insist that Obama’s Hawaiian birth certificate is a fabrication. CNN’s president Jonathan Klein, at the time, sent an email to Dobbs expressly telling the anchor that issue “is dead.”
In tonight’s announcement, Mr. Dobbs stated , “Over the past six months, it’s become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us. And some leaders in media politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here on CNN and to engage in constructive problem solving.”
Mr. Klein’s statement read, in part “All of us will miss his appetite for big ideas, the megawatt smile and larger-than-life presence he brought to our newsroom.” Mr. Klein had, months before, asked Mr. Dobbs to be objective in his CNN role, while saving his more extreme views for his radio show.
Aside from his radio venture, Mr. Dobbs’ future plans, be they in politics or at other media outlets, are as yet unstated.
Laura spent years as a Hollywood story analyst, did a big 180, and is now an entrepreneur focused on web marketing and analytics. She's also a mom of one.
