Media Matters Action Network released their highly anticipated report on Lou Dobbs, Glen Beck, and Bill O’Reilly.  Fear and Loathing in Prime Time, written by MMAN Senior Researcher Paul Waldman is a must read for immigrant advocates.

In addition to taking on the common myths repeated endlessly by these and other TV and radio talkers, they also have a petition, in English and Spanish, which reads:

I call on the following hosts to stop feeding anti-immigrant hysteria by repeating myths and misleading claims about undocumented immigrants…Further, I call on the following cable news channels to step up and provide the American public with a fair and accurate portrayal of immigration issues.

It also gives you the opportunity to send the petition with a comment.

As you might expect from one of the thinnest skins in broadcasting, Mr. Dobbs is not taking the report well.  The next day, Lou called Paul Waldman onto the proverbial carpet as a guest on his show.  The Center for American Progress’ Think Progress blogs about that here, and TIME’s Joe Klein (aka “Anonymous”) blogs about it here.

When the National Immigration Forum mentioned Mr. Dobbs in a letter to the editor of the Wall Street Journal, Mr. Dobbs’s producer was inviting the author on for a dressing down by Dobbs by 4:00 p.m. that day.  The segment was scheduled, but Dobbs apparently backed down because CNN failed to follow up.  Perhaps he had someone better to yell at that day.

Don’t miss this item from Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts on the wife of a local policeman, shot to death by an immigrant in the country illegally, who is calling for compromise and comprehensive immigration reform:

The woman stepped to the podium and faced a phalanx of television cameras in a room packed with reporters. She had no notes and needed none.

“This country,” she said, “is in need of comprehensive immigration reform.”

In certain circles, she would be immediately branded a member of the open borders crowd, a traitor who sides with those who seek to turn our country into Mexico.

That’s how it is with the illegal immigration debate, where there is black and there is white and there is absolutely nothing in between.

You’re either for us or against us; red, white and true blue or a lover of the lawless.

And yet there is Julie Erfle, a woman who has more of a right to outrage than any of us. — Laurie Robert’s Arizona Republic Blog, “A murdered officer’s widow speaks out, “ May 24, 2008

It is a very powerful story about a powerful messenger.

Last but not least, as part of their fantastic series on immigration at AlterNet.Org, today’s postings include an article by Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice, and former Executive Director of the National Immigration Forum.  The article dissects and analyzes what went wrong with comprehensive immigration reform in 2007 and what needs to happen to get it back on the table early in the new President’s term.

Two items of interest on the web caught our eye today, both relating to how immigrants and Latinos are treated by America’s broadcast media.

The Center for American Progress dedicated its Progress Report to a succinct summation of “Hate Radio’s Bigotry Against Hispanics.”

Right-wing radio’s discussion of immigration often veers away from policy to focus on race. [Radio host Michael] Savage once warned his listeners, “The European-American, or the white person, is being erased from America’s future…There is a racial element to the immigration invasion, at least I see it that way.” Discussing a pro-immigrant parade in L.A., [Radio and TV talker Bill] O’Reilly said, “So now, it’s becoming a race war.” O’Reilly also accused supporters of immigration — “who hate America…because it’s run primarily by white, Christian men” — of seeking “to change the complexion…of America.” These hatemongers have made clear their primary concern: maintaining a white majority.

The whole report is worth a read.

On CAP’s Think Progress blog, the discussion continues with a focus on Rush Limbaugh and his recent and disparaging comments about Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, which prompted the president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, Alex Nogales, to say:

What can I tell you? It’s the same kind of nasty, bigoted, racist type of comment that has become so prevalent in today’s society, as practiced by Lou Dobbs, as practiced by [Sean] Hannity, [Bill] O’Reilly, [Michael] Savage — all these guys who are appealing to a particular bigoted audience, and fanning the fires of bigotry and racism by doing these kinds of things without real concern about the consequences of their words.

Radio talk show host Mario Solís Marich picks up on the double standards for derogatory talk about Latinos in his article on The Huffington Post, “The Media’s Latino Rules,” which picks up on the Limbaugh comment and compares it to other recent flashes of overt racism.

There will be no national debate about whether [Dobbs] should step down as there was when Imus referred to a women’s basketball team in a derogatory fashion. There will be no national outrage like there was following the racist vocal vomiting of “comedian” Michael Richards. There will be no slam down and painful lame excuses like those offered by Mel Gibson after his anti-Semitic comments. The rules for Latinos are different.

Rush, Lou Dobbs, and a host of shock jocks are well aware of this different set of rules. Dobbs & Rush inc. can freely accuse Latinos of spreading Leprosy and TB, of raping children, and even planning the violent overthrow of the US, without any proof whatsoever.

While Rush and other radio talkers are pretty upfront about their political leanings and political agenda, it is a shame that CNN, which once stood for Cable News Network, has decided that anti-immigration advocacy should be part of their primetime schedules on both CNN (“Lou Dobbs Tonight”) and CNN Headline News (“The Glenn Beck Show”). Perhaps the middle N in CNN should be in quotation marks.