Stop CNN from parroting FOX News' propaganda

Stopping African Americans from voting was an important part of the rightwing playbook that got George W. Bush "elected," and under his tenure the Department of Justice was more interested in suppressing the vote than in helping citizens cast their ballots. Unsurprisingly, FOX News never showed much interest in covering this issue at the time.

But now, FOX and other rightwing activists are pushing a bogus story that insinuates that President Obama doesn't care about protecting the voting rights of white voters. Outrageously, CNN has followed FOX's lead.

Nobody should be surprised that FOX is using race-baiting tactics to attack the President. But when FOX complained that other news outlets weren't covering the story, CNN uncritically echoed FOX's distorted story, lending it mainstream credibility.

We cannot allow CNN to parrot FOX propaganda, so now we're joining our friends at ColorOfChange to hold CNN accountable.

Sign our petition demanding that Jon Klein, president of CNN, stop perpetuating these race-baiting lies.

The story that FOX is pushing revolves around an incident on election day 2008 in which several men from a small, fringe organization called the New Black Panther Party (NBPP -- no relationship to the original Black Panther Party) stood in front of a polling place in a majority Black voting district, one of them carrying a nightstick.

The Bush Justice Department charged them with civil voter intimidation charges, after deciding that the case didn't meet the bar for criminal charges.

After Obama took office, the Department of Justice dropped most of the remaining charges, saying that they weren't supported by the facts and the law, while obtaining an injunction against the man who had been carrying a nightstick.

No "victim"-- white or otherwise -- has come forward to say he or she was intimidated by the NBPP members on the day in question.

But in FOX's hands, the story has become that the case was dropped because of anti-white policies in the Obama administration, with Andrew Breitbart and host David Asman effectively calling the President a racist. CNN's willingness to follow FOX's lead is inexcusable.

Tell CNN to do real reporting, and not provide mainstream credibility to FOX's distortions and lies.

FOX's story, which sidesteps a mountain of facts, is based solely on the allegations of J. Christian Adams, a former Republican DOJ attorney who claims that the Obama administration dropped the New Black Panther Party case because of race.*

Even the most basic digging reveals that Adams is nothing more than a conservative activist hired by a Bush administration that was hell-bent on politicizing the Justice Department and subverting its civil rights enforcement mission.

During the Bush years -- the bulk of Adams' tenure at the DOJ -- civil rights enforcement decreased. The DOJ failed to even investigate numerous clear civil rights violations when the victims were Black and Latino, especially allegations involving voting rights.

We expect FOX to lie and distort. But for CNN and others to fall into the trap of repeating FOX's claims is a different story. Now, in hopes of preventing similar situations in the future, we must fight back.

Sign our petition demanding that Jon Klein, president of CNN, stop giving mainstream credibility to FOX News' outrageous lies.

* For more information read:

"Fox hypes GOP activist's "explosive new allegations" against Obama DOJ," Media Matters, June 30, 2010

"CNN omits GOP criticism of Black Panther investigation," Media Matters, 7-7-10

Sign the petition

The petition reads:

"I'm outraged that CNN has chosen to echo a recent FOX story that relies on blatant race-baiting and selective reporting to imply that President Obama and Attorney General Holder don't care about protecting the rights of white voters.

While I might expect this from FOX, I expect better from CNN. I am asking that you do your viewers a favor and set the record straight.

This isn't the first time that CNN has echoed distorted and inaccurate stories from FOX, helping that network succeed in whipping up racial fear and paranoia. I'm asking that CNN stop spreading distortions from FOX News, and that you do better reporting on this case."

Complete the following to sign the petition. You'll receive periodic updates on offers and activism opportunities.

Full Name
Street Address
City
State
ZIP

Additional message for
Jon Klein, president of CNN :

Sincerely,
[Your name]