Truth, Fiction and Lou Dobbs [David Leonhardt/New York Times smear job]

New York Times ^ | 5/30/07 | David Leonhardt

[lonewacko_dot_com]

The whole controversy involving Lou Dobbs and leprosy started with a “60 Minutes” segment a few weeks ago...

...“Well, I can tell you this,” [Dobbs] replied. “If we reported it, it’s a fact.”

With that Orwellian chestnut, Mr. Dobbs escalated the leprosy dispute into a full-scale media brouhaha. The next night, back on his own program, the same CNN correspondent who had done the earlier report, Christine Romans, repeated the 7,000 number, and Mr. Dobbs added that, if anything, it was probably an underestimate. A week later, the Southern Poverty Law Center — the civil rights group that has long been critical of Mr. Dobbs — took out advertisements in The New York Times and USA Today demanding that CNN run a correction...

...Mr. Dobbs argues that the middle class has many enemies: corporate lobbyists, greedy executives, wimpy journalists, corrupt politicians. But none play a bigger role than illegal immigrants. As he sees it, they are stealing our jobs, depressing our wages and even endangering our lives...

...He is the heir to the nativist tradition that has long used fiction and conspiracy theories as a weapon against the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, the Jews and, now, the Mexicans...

...There is no denying that this country’s immigration system is broken...

[middie]

With the exception of Paula Zhan, whom I consider consistently uninformed and is a dunce at questioning on a difficult issue, CNN is a terrific source of news and commentary. It is obvious each day that the ranting radio fools, Limbaugh, Savage, Hannity, et al., blindly and unrelentingly attack CNN; it’s part of their doctrinal mantra. While Fox claims that it is ‘’fair and balanced,’’ an egregiously false claim at best, CNN digs deep into issues and performs well the classic role of a news delivery outlet.

[Mr. Know It All]

I think that with 20 million Mexicans who have recently come to this country illegally who hide in the shadows there is a lot we donÂ’t know about the diseases that they are bringing into this country.

That's an excellent point, and I think it's the point that Dobbs was trying to make. This point is, however, entirely speculative. With the "7000 cases in the last three years" statistic, I think he (and his guest) were trying to substantiate this claim, and they failed — badly. Dobbs then made things worse by getting all huffy about it.

It's too bad, because good data supporting the epidemiological cost of illegal immigration would have furthered the national debate. Instead, Dobbs militantly defended bad data and made the story about what an arrogant jerk he was being. I generally like Lou Dobbs, but I think he was his own worst enemy here.

[lonewacko_dot_com]

I posted a discussion about the wider issue of online advocacy against such smear pieces here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1842609/posts

[jpsb]

Well I would not go that far. CNN is best at breaking news, no one can touch them at breaking news. And it appears they are attempting to stop being a propaganda arm of the socialist left, trying to be good journalists. So I rate them even with Fox. O’Reily being the best on Fox and Lou Dobbs being the best on CNN. Both are excellent. CNN seems to have turned things around and I will give them credit for that. CNN is now watchable where as a year ago it was not.Both Fox and CNN leave ABC/NBC/CBS in the dust.

[middie]

It’s merely a matter of degree, not substantive kind