NEW YORK - Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views have made him a TV lightning rod, said yesterday that he is leaving the cable news channel effective immediately.
“Some leaders in the media, politics, and business have been urging me to go beyond my role here at CNN and engage in constructive problem-solving,’’ Dobbs said just after 7 p.m., suggesting that he would remain involved in the civic discourse, but perhaps not on television.
Last night’s program was to be his last on CNN, one of his employees said earlier in the evening. Dobbs’s contract was not set to expire until the of 2011. He told viewers CNN had agreed to release him from his contract early.
Well known for his political positions, Dobbs is an outlier at CNN, which has sought to position itself as a middle ground in the fractious cable news arena. The CNN employees said they did not know whether he was moving to another network.
Dobbs’s views on immigration provoked a protest by Hispanic groups. Members of the groups complained that CNN was allowing him “to spread lies and misinformation about us.’’
Last month, the New Jersey State Police were called to Dobbs’s home to investigate a report of gunfire. He suggested that his family had been singled out because of his views on illegal immigration and border security.
