Monday Morning Media Quarterback

CNN anchor Lou Dobbs is a ticking time bomb–and he’s starting to damage CNN’s credibility.  The New York Times, finally catching up with MondayMorningMediaQuarterback,  challenged Dobb’s reporting on immigrants bringing leprosy to the United States. 

Dobbs needed to back away from let-them-eat-cake remarks like “If we reported it, it’s a fact,” and respond with a brief statement like this.  “On a couple of things we’ve broadcast, I’ve got to admit our critics may have a point.  From this point forward we’ll make doubly sure everything we put on the air is accurate,  and while we’ll continue to advocate for the American worker, I apologize to those I may have given offense to.”

Instead, we get this 900-word rant, as swollen with ego as a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade float.  Here’s some quotes with our commentary.

• “Today’s New York Times column is primarily a personal attack on me.” The Times story is not about the issues.
• The non-factual leprosy quote is from “an ad-lib on the set of this broadcast uttered more than two years ago by Christine Romans.” Blaming others/not taking responsibility for his show.
• “I’m regularly attacked by the left wing — the Southern Poverty Law Center, The New York Times, The Nation, MALDEF and MEChA — for my opposition to illegal immigration…I’m regularly attacked by the right wing — the biggest business lobbyists in the country, The Wall Street Journal editorial page, the Bush administration — for my criticism of so-called free trade policies and outsourcing.” Dobbs is implying that he’s a centrist and his ‘truth’ lies in the middle. Interestingly, The National Association of Manufacturers, seemingly a natural ally for this ‘leading business reporter’, slams Dobbs’ relationship with the truth–which at the end of the day, is all a reporter has.
• “The fact is, I made a mistake” He buries what should be the lead 14 columns down in his rant.
• “Corporate power, expressed by lobbyists spending billions of dollars each year in Washington to influence both political parties and public policy, represents the greatest single threat to this nation’s middle class.”  Dobbs is using airtime provided by one of those corporations, Time Warner, which also pays his $4 million salary.  Commercial speech is different than free speech, as both Pink and Don Imus have learned.
• “Those attacks from the left and the right will continue. They perhaps may get even a little more energetic. And as long as they continue to do so, you and I can rest assured that we’re doing more right than wrong on this broadcast.”  Although they try to martyr him, Dobbs’ crusade cannot be deterred, even by critics like the Mayor of San Francisco who Dobbs says, ”Might as well work for Hermann Goering.”

My concern is that Dobbs will damage the CNN and Time Warner brand, devaluing an image of credibility and unbiased news built up painstakingly over 20 years.  In the past month, Time Warner has quickly fired the head of HBO and their leading African reporter, both for alleged offenses against women. 

With Dobbs, it may be a tougher call, as he has the ratings lead .  But if he doesn’t start acting less like Howard Beale and more like Anderson Cooper, Dobbs credibility, already in tatters, will disappear completely.