Lou Dobbs is leaving CNN. Advocacy groups have been calling for his dismissal. While neither CNN nor Dobbs acknowledges the advocacy groups had a role in Dobbs leaving, it is clear the decisions of sponsors leaving and the number of groups advocating his leaving had an impact on this decision. Mr. Dobbs informed his staff members of his intentions in a meeting Wednesday afternoon, catching some of the staffers off-guard. Well known for his political positions, Mr. Dobbs is an outlier at CNN, which has sought to position itself as a middle ground of sorts in the fractious cable news arena. The CNN employees said Wednesday that they did not know if Mr. Dobbs was moving to another network.
Dobbs met with Roger Ailes, the chairman of the Fox News Channel, in September. At the time Dobbs was viewed as a potential hire for the Fox Business Network. But a Fox spokesperson said Wednesday, “We have not had any discussions with Dobbs for Fox News or Fox Business.”
Lately Dobbs has saved most of his opinions for his afternoon radio show, which made its debut in March 2008. It is on the radio show that he talked repeatedly about the conspiracy theory claims that President Obama is not a United States citizen. When he mentioned the citizenship issue on CNN over the summer, his bosses were forced to call it a “dead issue.”
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