CNN Takes Down Anti-Immigrant Link on Website

El Diario/La Prensa, Editorial, Staff, Posted: May 03, 2007

Editor’s Note: An editorial in today's El Diario/La Prensa criticized CNN for posting a link on Lou Dobbs’ page on its website directing visitors to an anti-immigrant group in Hazleton, Penn. After receiving criticism by the National Institute for Latino Policy, CNN agreed to take down the link.


NEW YORK -- From the looks of its web site, CNN is more than just reporting the news, it`s rallying support for anti-immigrant measures.

The news network has decided to condone fundraising in support of the city of Hazleton, PA. The Pennsylvania town has been embroiled in a legal battle over an ordinance it introduced last year. Under that measure, business owners could have their doors shut for hiring undocumented persons. Landlords found renting to undocumented persons would be penalized with fines. With the growing trend of scapegoating undocumented immigrants, the ordinance has served as a model for other U.S. towns.

On its site, CNN directs visitors to the City of Hazleton Legal Defense Fund, under the heading of "Town Under Siege." The National Institute for Latino Policy points out that the network does not list the option of donating to the other side of this battle—immigrants, native residents and business owners of Hazleton who are represented by the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund (PRLDEF) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

CNN responds that the posting is on Lou Dobbs` Web page, as if the pundit is some outside entity that the network has no control over. We`re not referencing a myspace page or a facebook entry, but the CNN Web site.

If CNN, a division of Time Warner, one of the largest corporations in the world, wants to advocate measures that drive poor, undocumented families out of their homes, that`s the network`s editorial prerogative. But helping to fundraise for these efforts steps over a line traditionally observed by news organizations. Shame on you CNN. It is bad practice and bad politics.

Note from New America Media: In a May 3 letter to Angelo Falcón, president of the National Institute of Latino Policy, CNN President James Walton thanked him for raising his concerns and agreed to take down the link.

http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_art ... 2e6349dc60