Thread: CNN's Lou Dobbs for President, I say!

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JON FRIEDMAN'S MEDIA WEB
CNN's Lou Dobbs for President, I say!
Commentary: This rabble-rouser needs a new line of work
By Jon Friedman, MarketWatch
Last Update: 2:01 AM ET Mar 13, 2006


NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- By now, it must be abundantly clear that CNN stalwart Lou Dobbs is wasting his time in television journalism. Clearly, this rabble-rouser needs a new line of work.

Lou Dobbs for President, I say! Then, he could put his ideas into action and not have to stand on the sidelines and merely bark at the moon, like the rest of us in the media.

Seriously, I wonder if Dobbs did secretly look down on us grubby journalism peasants from his ivory tower last week and conclude that there were no more mountains for him to climb in the TV news arena.

Understandably, the national news shows led last Thursday with the bombshell that a Dubai company had finally acknowledged the public objection to its plan to take control of U.S. ports by announcing plans to sell the businesses acquired here.

But Dobbs stood out from the pack because he seemed so emotionally involved. As I watched his show that day, I half-expected him to fly out of his chair and take a victory lap around his CNN studio.
Mojo

Understand, this was an issue close to Dobbs' heart -- and mind, not to mention his liver, gallbladder and spleen. You see, Dobbs puts his entire being into a cause when he gets his mojo going.

As a matter of fact, nobody else in TV journalism today can match him when it comes to exhibiting a single-mindedness about a high-profile issue. That's right -- not even Fox News' Bill O'Reilly can lay a glove on Dobbs.

When you stop and think about it, he and O'Reilly are a pretty good match for the dubious honor of Most High and Mighty Newscaster. Too bad they aren't prize fighters. If they were, O'Reilly would stomp around the ring like Smokin' Joe Frazier, forever charging into the fray, head down, firing off left hooks from now till Sunday. Dobbs, on the other hand, couldn't float like a butterfly, God knows. But I bet he'd sting like a bee.

Dobbs' commitment to his pet cause was so profound that he landed in the first paragraph of a Wall Street Journal story in Friday's editions. The piece discussed how the media sparked a "firestorm" as they reported about Washington lawmakers' full-court press to kill the deal (The WSJ, like MarketWatch, is a unit of Dow Jones).

As the Journal observed: "The CNN commentator, who has redefined his career by editorializing against outsourcing, illegal immigration and big business, aired his initial report in which he expressed incredulity that the deal was being allowed to go forward. That report was followed by 15 others in the following 17 of his shows."
Dobbs' journalism

On his show, Dobbs proclaimed last Thursday to be "an incredible day" for democracy in the U.S.

He may have been right on the mark. Still, I am not sure what to make of Dobbs' highly stylized follow-or-get-out-of-the-way brand of journalism.

Is it really journalism at all? Is he merely doing what critics regularly accuse Fox News of undertaking: blatant advocacy journalism (Fox anchors uniformly speak in favor of the Bush White House's policies)? Does Dobbs need to adhere to journalism schools' teachings and make every effort to be objective (whatever that word really means)?

I can't say if Dobbs chose to come across as a portly Howard Beale as a way to satisfy a specific motive. Who's to know if he has a particular political point of view. Who's to say if he secretly does have political ambitions of his own.

Let's, for a moment, imagine that he does. I was speaking with someone at CNN, a Time Warner subsidiary, about this point and Dobbs' colleague wondered if the man would prefer to run as a Republican or a Democrat. For better or worse, it isn't easy to say. Maybe we're better off not knowing.

Dobbs sure sounded a lot like an office-seeker when he discussed Thursday that the Bush's failure to take national security seriously counted as "the biggest single threat to the American people."

If you closed your eyes, you could imagine such vocal Bush critics as Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. John Kerry delivering the same message.

Of course, Dobbs can go (way) over the top at these times, too. He shilled a bit for Rep. Peter King, who had strenuously opposed the deal from the start. Dobbs said: "The fight to kill the Dubai Ports World deal might never have gained traction if it were not for the tireless work of a number of our representatives and senators. Among them, Congressman Pete King, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee...He joins us here tonight."
CNN

CNN insiders have long railed privately (especially when the news boss, Jon Klein, catches a wave) against Fox's approach. Fox shrewdly hit on a formula of bringing the chatty ambience of a talk-radio show to TV.

That Fox has trounced CNN for years in the ratings sweepstakes particularly infuriates veteran CNN officials. They believe their network has shown a stronger commitment to reporting on breaking news (though there is no shortage of happy talk on CNN's breakfast-hour shows).
Topping off CNN's resentment, a happy blowhard like O'Reilly has emerged as THE voice of cable news by preening, pointing and shouting.

Maybe this hasn't been lost on Dobbs. Not so long ago, he was best known as a fairly pompous business-news maven who got his kicks by interviewing adoring CEOs on the air.

Now look at what he has become.

You know something? It's always interesting when you turn into what you loathe.
MEDIA WEB QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think of Lou Dobbs' work on CNN?

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Originally Posted by "Brian503a

CNN's Lou Dobbs for President, I say

I hope Dobbs runs for Prez. If not him then definitely Tom Tancredo. Move over Hillary you don't stand a chance and as I heard someone say in one forum or another you change your political opinions more often than your underwear. And, PUHLEEEEEEZ keep a tighter leash on Billy boy, or dump his behind. :P

It would be great to see Lou Dobbs become our president. It's plain to see that he has a true love for this country and the American people. There is nothing fake about Lou's feelings, he's a truly good man and most people can see that. I wish he would run for president, he'd get my vote for sure.

I would love to see him run for president. If it werent for his passion and concern for America, alot of issues would never be bought up.