Cristina Jimenez
Immigration Debate: Lies, Hate, and Lack of True Journalism
Last month I wrote about a Media Matters report that revealed that when it comes to immigration and undocumented immigrants, instead of news and/or facts, we are getting a bunch of lies and misinformation. Cable news anchors like CNN’s Lou Dobbs and Fox’s Bill O'Reilly use their “news shows” to promote a message of fear and anger, creating and encouraging hate and a strong sense of resentment against undocumented immigrants.
The result: (nothing positive of course) hate groups in the United States have increased by half since the year 2000 and the number of new anti-immigrant groups increased to 300.
Unlike the United States, as reported by the New York Times; England, Canada, Germany, France, the Netherlands, India, South Africa, and Australia have created laws or signed international conventions banning hate speech. In Canada for example, Maclean’s magazine published the article “The Future Belongs to Islam,” arguing in a biting tone that the “rise of Islam threatened Western values.” The magazine was accused of violating a provincial hate speech law by stimulating hatred against Muslims and was put on trial. The Ontario Human Rights Commission dismissed a complaint against the magazine but stated, “By portraying Muslims as all sharing the same negative characteristics, including being a threat to ‘the West,’ this explicit expression of Islamophobia further perpetuates and promotes prejudice toward Muslims and others.”
On the other side of the border, however, things are different; hateful and biting comments and lies instead of facts about undocumented immigrants and minorities have become a common practice of mainstream media outlets. And as Harvard’s Professor Frederick Schauer mentions, unlike the United States, “ In much of the developed world, one uses racial epithets at one’s legal peril, one displays Nazi regalia and the other trappings of ethnic hatred at significant legal risk.”
But when it comes to the issue of immigration and anchors like Lou Dobbs, the problem is beyond hate: no commitment to objective and ethical journalism. For instance, when Media Matters fellow Paul Waldman was invited to Dobb’s CNN show to “discuss” the findings of the report, Dobbs refused to have a discussion and did not show both sides of the story. During the show, Dobbs kept promoting his lies, constantly interrupting and dismissing Waldman.
Promoting hate and lies clearly benefit cable news channels and anchors like Dobbs. While Americans receive false information, they continue on increasing their ratings. As anchors like Dobbs continue reporting lies and instigating immigrant hate, perhaps those who still believe in true journalism should stop being part of this falsehood. Why participate in Dobb’s show when is clear that he won’t allow for a fair and real discussion? Why give him more space and opportunities to promote his lies and message of hate? Although a government’s ban on speech might not necessarily be the answer, we should expect more of our nation’s journalists.
Cristina Jimenez: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 7:00 AM, Jul 14, 2008 in Immigration
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Comments
Me da mucho gusto que alguien salga a defender a nuestra gente, que duele tanto que todos los dias nos vean como algo inferior por solo el color de la piel -even when we're born here-.
Truth is, documented or not, there's HATE towards hispanics, XENOPHOBIA AND RACISM at the mall, in the neighborhood and at schools fomented by politicians and supported by uninformed people.
Saludos afectuosos.
Posted by: elsincorrea | July 16, 2008 11:51 AM
Gracias por tu comentario! Verdaderamente estas en lo cierto, racism and a message of hate have become part of the daily experiences of our communities. Pero estamos aqui en la lucha por la verdad y justicia!
Abrazos!
Posted by: Cristna Jimenez | July 16, 2008 12:36 PM
Are you saying the solution to the immigration issue is to censor speech that you don't like?
Posted by: Alon Levy | July 17, 2008 05:10 AM
Alon, thanks for your question. I'm not advocating for speech censorship, please read the last line of my post carefully. My goal was to highlight the intensity and impact of this wave of hate against immigrants and to hold journalists and mainstream media accountable for their false reporting on this issue.
Posted by: Cristina Jimenez | July 22, 2008 12:51 PM
This isn't much better. "We should expect better" implies you want these journalists all to be biased toward your side. If you have the political capital for that, you've already won the issue.
The other thing you say, about how "in much of the developed world, one displays Nazi regalia at significant legal risk," isn't a good place to start, either. In Germany and France, where Holocaust denial is illegal, neo-fascists have gotten a lot of political traction just by claiming that the establishment is conspiring to oppress them. In the US, where it isn't, they haven't; the war on Christmas is a pathetic shadow of the Holocaust myth. Similarly, Al-Qaida members who were tried and convicted fairly have never been symbols around which other Islamists have rallied the way those who are still held without trial at Guantanamo are.
Posted by: Alon Levy | July 22, 2008 07:54 PM
Alon, by stating that “we should expect more from our nation’s journalist” I’m saying that as a nation we cannot tolerate journalists and media to feed us false information and lies. Here, I’m focusing on the issue of immigration, but ethical and objective journalism should be applied to all issues. No?
The media should provide Americans with true information and facts so that we can make informed decisions as part of the political process.
Posted by: Cristina Jimenez | July 23, 2008 02:14 PM
Cristina - thanks for echoing what some of us working for and with immigrants already know, but which the mainstream media has been so negligent in reporting. The fact that Lou Dobbs can exist on what is supposed to be the go-to network for news (CNN) is a travesty. Jesse Jackson gets taken to task by the mainstream media for speaking "the n-word," and yet Lou Dobbs has almost single-handedly created a climate of hate and fear that undoubtedly contributes to discrimination, prejudice and fear because of his overt racism. Why there is no widespread public outcry is hard to fathom...and why CNN fails to jerk him off the air for his lies and distortions is even more difficult to grasp.
Posted by: Kelli | July 23, 2008 10:11 PM
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Posted by: Barry Wolfe | August 12, 2008 12:58 PM
Are you can help me to write for my page please.
about immigration and canada , we have same problems in canada canada more looking for slaves not immigrant, I was living in USA and I know you are have better system to respect to new comers. we have racism here and we are working and they are have fun with are TAX
thank you
www.canadaright.com
Posted by: hossein | August 15, 2008 06:30 PM
Talk about spreding and perpetuating myths. Lou Dobbs is far from being racist. His wife Debi Lee Segura is a latina, a Mexican-American, or is she too white for you. Please explain how this makes him racist?
You state "Hate groups in the United States have increased by half since the year 2000." Where is the data that proves this is because of Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reilly? Or are you exempt from providing such information?
Why do you, and such groups as The Southern Poverty Law Center and Media Matters lump legal immigrants with illegal immigrants? Doesn't this belittle the dedication and moral standards these individual chose to live by?
I recall that Lou Dobbs has repeatedly exclaimed his utmost respect and support of all legal immigrants and has offered his congratulations to those who chose to legally immigrate to this greatest of countries.
If you are going to throw stones, first be sure you are faultless. Or at the very least have some hard facts/data, not your own mispresented informations and half truths.
Posted by: Arne C | February 6, 2009 01:57 PM
Lou Dobbs likes Mexicanas its like a fetish. That doesnt stop him from being racist. His wife is a disgrace to our race for being with that white supermacist Dobbs. Considering that now Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reiley promote their hatred to millions of people i'm not suprised hate groups have grown since 2000 remember that Dobbs used to be all about money and wall street until recently.
Posted by: alain | July 5, 2009 06:29 PM