CNN president Klein has no backbone, will allow Dobbs to keep the "birther" story going

[wndycty]

CNN chief addresses Obama birth controversy
Jon Klein e-mails 'Lou Dobbs Tonight' staffers that legitimacy of the president's birth certificate is a 'dead' story but doesn't order them to drop the issue.
By Matea Gold

July 25, 2009

Reporting from New York — CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein told staffers of "Lou Dobbs Tonight" Thursday that the controversy regarding the legitimacy of President Obama's birth certificate -- a topic Dobbs has avidly pursued on the air -- is a "dead" story.

But in an interview, the cable news chief left open the possibility that Dobbs may continue to raise questions about why the president has not produced a long-form birth certificate. The absence of such a record has spawned rumors that Obama was not born in the United States, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary.

"He's got more than 30 years as a television journalist and I trust him, as I trust all our reporters and anchors, to exercise their judgment as various stories evolve," Klein said of Dobbs, whose daily CNN program is a mix of news and opinion.

"Certainly if there are future news pegs, then we have to take that story as it comes," he added.

That appeared to be a step back from the stance Klein took in his e-mail Thursday, in which he wrote that CNN researchers had determined that Hawaiian officials discarded paper documents in 2001. Because of that, Obama's long-form birth certificate no longer exists and a shorter certificate of live birth that has been made public is the official record, they reported.

"It seems to definitively answer the question," Klein wrote in the e-mail, first reported by the website TVNewser. "Since the show's mission is for Lou to be the explainer and enlightener, he should be sure to cite this during your segment tonite. And then it seems this story is dead -- because anyone who still is not convinced doesn't really have a legitimate beef."

On Friday, Klein said he was not ordering the staff to drop the story.
-snip-
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-cnnobama25-2009jul25,0,3939176.story

[democracy1st]

1. more pressure needed

[redqueen]

2. Good.

I hope he has that Orly nutcase back on, too.

Let them flaunt their dumbassery for as long as they care to do so.

[quantass]

5. +1

totally agreed...let them waste their time

[yodermon]

10. Yep. Let Dobbs marginalize himself. Maybe the rest of his viewership

will come to realize what a racist douchebag he really is.

[grantcart]

3. Or he has ordered it and he's trying to save Dobbs face

If Dobbs continues to pursue it he will simply confirm to everyone that his IQ has long abandoned his brain.

[LisaM]

4. Maybe they should have real news, instead of opinion shows

That's the real problem. CNN doesn't show news anymore.

[left coaster]

11. Agreed..

..and that's the same reason why newspaper readership has nose-dived.

[Sarah Ibarruri]

6. True, but if we wrote the a-hole and inundated the man in mail....

Plus advised him that a news station does not engage in promotion of bullshit lies, it might make him change his mind.

O8)

[City Lights]

7. People should stop watching that crap.

Ratings=adversiting $$$$$$$.

[left coaster]

9. Absolutely..

Corporate media "news" is not driven by any moral compass, to bring the public the facts.. the only thing that matters to them is turning a profit and maintaining the status quo.. so kick them where it hurts.. in the coin purse!


I watch very little television, and I have not tuned in to any TV news in years.

[City Lights]

13. I gave up in March of 2008 during the Rev. Wright hate fest.

I still tune in to msnbc now and then, but never during the day. What a waste of time...

[csziggy]

23. Now MSNBC has David Scuster and Tamron Hall on between 3 and 5 ET

And those two are pretty nice to watch, though they still interject more opinion than I would prefer to see. But I like their take in most subjects and enjoy their interaction. The rest of the MSNBC daytime schedule is still crap.

[graywarrior]

8. Corporate ratings

[Metta]

12. Long form no longer exists. Jeez, I got that from reading the web and he's a "journalist?"

So's my butt, in that case.

[JFKfanforever]

17. Destroyed? (who? what? when? why? how?)

No one on this forum cares, of course. 
<<<yawn>>>

But, then again, I am being distracted my the health care
reform debate.  [Silly me!]

[Metta]

18. Now that I think of it, I think it was either CNN or MSNBC.

They ran it down.

[Lifelong Protester]

14. Just sent two emails

One a 'negative' (you can mark negative or positive) to the Lou Dobbs show specifically, and one to some address I got here called "cnnfutures" whatever that is. I asked how they can continue to 'discuss' this non-news when we have REAL PROBLEMS to solve. I then asked if Lou was a native american, or did someone have to cross the pond to eventually spawn him here. How did he become the arbiter of who is and isn't an American.

I also asked CNN to fire both Lou and Kitty Pilgrim.

Fat chance-a-roo, but it made me feel good.

Does anyone believe in boycotting any more or has that gone the way of the horse and buggy (or newspaper?)

[rvablue]

15. I think in order to shame them, KO should do a nightly segment on unicorn sightings

and no, don't invite comediens or whatever, get real believers -- there have to be at least 600,000 people (the number who have signed on to the Birther petition that Lou Dobbs cited as his reasoning for covering the story) who ACTUALLY BELIEVE that there are unicorns.

KO can do a brief 1-2 minute interview with these crackpots each night. Because even though we all know that unicorns do not exist, if we can locate several hundred thousand folks who still actually believe then I guess the topic, however silly, irrational and mythical, deserves time on a serious news/commentary cable show.

[damntexdem]

16. Boycott CNN.

It should be easy -- just treat it as one should treat Faux News.

[trocar]

29. Gone

As others have stated, CNN is off my satellite menus. Too bad for the few shows I did like, they're gone too.

[depakid]

19. Yet another of the 999 reasons why CNN is programmed off of our TV

right alongside Fox "news," the fundy, and the spam channels.

[DefenseLawyer]

20. Sounds good to me

When people think of Republicans the very first thought in their heads should be birthers.

[Cha]

21. 30 years of shit..what a freaking disingenuous bullshit

statement..and this is the president of cnn? No wonder they're called Chickenshits Not News.

[dgibby]

22. Time to go after the sponsors. n/t

[greyghost]

26. We have a winner!

[Dulcinea]

28. Yes.

As long as Lou Dobbs brings in viewers and ad dollars, he can say pretty much whatever he wants. Once the revenue drops, that will change.

[Umbral]

24. CNN should run one a disclaimer before and after his show. nt

[greyghost]

25. Attack the sponsors directly, gut the money and the show will FALL!

[City Lights]

27. Trust the man who bought "Obama waffles" at your own peril, CNN.

:thumbsdown:

Teh CNN stoopid continues.

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pink-o]

31. McCain was born in an American Navy hospital in the Panama Canal zone in the 30s

..it was still considered American territory back then, so technically McCain is a natural-born American citizen.

If Obama had been born in Hawaii before it became a state, he'd have the same status. But Obama was born in Honolulu well after Hawaii had statehood. These stupid idiots are stirring the shit by saying Obama's birth certificate is forged, and he was born in Kenya like his father. It's all insidious racist bullshit, because these f%$&ed up reactionaries can't stand the idea of a Black Man in the White House.