Lou Dobbs Tonight didn't mention use of graphic from organization linked to white supremacists, even after CNN acknowledged it was "regrettab[le]"

Summary: Despite a CNN spokeswoman's acknowledgement that the use of a graphic from the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) -- an organization linked to white supremacists -- during an immigration report on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight was "regettab[le]," the incident was not mentioned during the following edition of the show. As Media Matters has noted, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the CCC "has described blacks as 'a retrograde species of humanity,' compared singer Michael Jackson to an ape, and promoted neo-Nazi and Holocaust denial materials."

Despite a CNN spokeswoman's acknowledgement that the use of a graphic from the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) during a report on the May 23 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight was "regettab[le]," the incident was not mentioned on the May 24 edition of the show. As Media Matters for America noted after a report by CNN correspondent Casey Wian used the graphic, the CCC is an organization linked to white supremacists. On May 23, Wian stated that "[y]ou could call" Mexican President Vicente Fox's trip to the United States "the Vicente Fox Aztlan tour," thereby drawing a baseless link between Fox and the reconquista movement, which maintains that portions of the American Southwest (territory referred to by supporters of the theory as "Aztlan") belong to Mexico. During Wian's report, CNN featured a graphic of "Aztlan" that was sourced to the CCC.

On May 24, Greg Sargent reported on the American Prospect weblog The Horse's Mouth that CNN spokeswoman Christa Robinson had provided a response to criticism and calls for an apology for the graphic's use:

A freelance field producer in Los Angeles searched the web for Aztlan maps and grabbed the Council of Conservative Citizens map without knowing the nature of the organization. The graphic was a late inclusion in the script and, regrettably, was missed in the vetting process.

As Media Matters has noted, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), the CCC "has described blacks as 'a retrograde species of humanity,' compared singer Michael Jackson to an ape, and promoted neo-Nazi and Holocaust denial materials." According an Anti-Defamation League report, the CCC was "[e]stablished by former activists in the segregationist White Citizens' Councils," and "[a]lthough the group claims not to be racist, its leaders traffic with other white supremacist groups and its publications, Web sites and meetings all promote the purportedly innate superiority of whites."

Nevertheless, during that night's edition of Lou Dobbs Tonight, there was no mention of the use of the graphic on the previous night's broadcast, despite further reporting by correspondent Katharine Barrett on Fox's visit to the United States.

—R.M.