(CNSNews.com) – Clarissa Martinez De Castro, director of immigration and national campaigns for the National Council of La Raza, says that money inspires the anti-immigration rhetoric of talk radio hosts and CNN’s Lou Dobbs. She took part in a panel discussion at an Anti-Defamation League (ADL) conference in Washington, D.C. on Monday.
“People like Lou Dobbs and other similar folks, to go from a certain platform to a very shrill voice and persona that they have got, is they’re making money, folks, right?” Martinez said when an audience member asked how to “educate someone like Lou Dobbs?
“The thing about Lou Dobbs is you can’t educate somebody like Lou Dobbs,” Martinez said. “Because what guys like Lou Dobbs does, or what he did at some point, at this point, I’m not sure if he’s lost it completely.”
Martinez also said money inspired “the very disturbing voices” on talk radio.
“So if you look at some of the very disturbing voices that you hear on [immigration] issues on talk radio, or Lou Dobbs, for example, is they’re making some money,” Martinez said.
Much of the conference’s workshops and programs focused on the ADL’s mission to stop anti-Semitism and racism and support the state of Israel and the Jewish community in the United States. But one workshop, “Immigration: Toward a Civil and Bigotry-Free Discussion,” featured Martinez; Frank Sharry, founder of America’s Voice, a pro-immigrant advocacy group; and Stacy Burdett, ADL’s associate director of Government and National Affairs.
During the question-and-answer sesssion for that panel, Martinez said Dobbs and other anti-amnesty commentators should be held accountable.
“I think that there is also another very disturbing thing for all of us: that at the end of the day these folks are on the air and their stations are not holding them accountable to what being on the public airwaves means,” Martinez said.
She told the audience that targeting advertisers may be a way to chip away at the success of shows like “The Lou Dobbs Show” on CNN.
“Some of the things we’ve discovered is that many companies actually don’t know that they are indeed sponsoring Lou Dobbs because of the way that the messages are sold,” Martinez said.
“So we are looking into that, and I think that there are--perhaps if Lou Dobbs feels that that persona makes him money--perhaps there may be other individuals, institutions and companies--it’s not just from the public sector--who might feel otherwise,” she added.
“And so, you are going to see a lot more work around those [sponsors],” Martinez said.
The ADL’s three-day Shana Amy Glass National Leadership Conference wrapped up on Tuesday with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano addressing the conference.
The National Council of La Raza, a politically liberal group, is a national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization with headquarters in Washington, D.C.