CNN Anchor Lou Dobbs Leaving Network

CNN anchor Lou Dobbs on Wednesday announced he was leaving the news network, telling viewers he was granted an early release from his contract.Shortly after 7 p.m. EST, the 64-year-old Dobbs addressed his audience, saying, “This will be my last broadcast here on CNN, where I’ve worked for the past 30 years.” The host of Lou Dobbs Tonight suggested that his decision to walk away from the network was brought on by external forces.“Over the past six months it’s become increasingly clear that strong winds of change have begun buffeting this country and affecting all of us,” Dobbs said. “Some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond my role here at CNN and engage in constructive problem solving, as well as to contribute positively to the great understanding of the issues of the day.”Dobbs said he was let out of his current CNN contract after extensive talks with president Jonathan Klein. Dobbs’ contract was set to expire in 2011.While the anchor did not say where he thought he might wind up next, he told viewers that he was “considering a number of options and directions,” before rattling off a list of “the major issues of our time: the growth of the middle class, the creation of more jobs, health care, immigration policy, the environment, climate change, and our military involvement...in Afghanistan and Iraq.” That fourth issue made Dobbs a controversial figure at CNN, which has taken pains to position itself as the ideological midfielder that roams the pitch between MSNBC and Fox News Channel. He also grew fire for repeatedly addressing the claims of “the birthers,” that vocal minority of conspiracy theorists who reject the legitimacy of President Barack Obama’s U.S. citizenship. (In July, Klein sent a memo to CNN staffers suggesting it was time to drop the birther coverage, saying, “It seems this story is dead...anyone who still is not convinced doesn’t really have a legitimate beef.”) Dobbs said he would “continue to strive to deal honestly and straightforwardly with these issues in the future,” and while it’s uncertain where he’ll be given a forum to wrestle with those matters, it is understood that Dobbs met with Fox News chairman Roger Ailes back in September.Late Wednesday, a spokesperson for Fox News and FOX Business denied that Ailes and Dobbs had engaged in any shop talk: “We have not had any discussions with Lou Dobbs for Fox News or Fox Business.”In a statement released by CNN Wednesday evening, Klein praised the departing anchor, calling Dobbs “a valued founding member of the CNN family.” But for a two-year hiatus in which he left CNN in 1999 and founded Space.com, Dobbs has been employed by the news network since its inception.“With characteristic forthrightness, Lou has now decided to carry the banner of advocacy journalism elsewhere,” Klein said. “We respect his decision and wish him, [his wife] Debi, and his family the very best.”

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CNN Anchor Lou Dobbs Leaving Network

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Anthony Crupi