Laura Schlessinger, one of American radio's most popular - and often controversial - talk show hosts as Dr Laura, is to give up broadcasting.

Her decision, which she announced on CNN's Larry King Live yesterday, follows a storm of protests over her repeated use of the word "nigger" during her phone-in programme.

She described an African-American caller as "hypersensitive" for taking offence at a neighbour's racial taunting, and used the N-word 11 times during the five-minute segment.

She later apologised, saying she had said "the wrong thing". But her decision to give up her advice programme, which has been a fixture on talk radio for years and is heard on almost 200 stations across the US, came as a surprise.

Schlessinger told King: "I want to regain my First Amendment rights. I want to be able to say what's on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry, some special-interest group deciding this is the time to silence a voice of dissent and attack affiliates, attack sponsors. I'm sort of done with that."

Source: Washington Post