UPDATE: Lou Dobbs responds to his critics...
For a little while now, the CNN anchor Lou Dobbs has been claiming that illegal immigrants bring a host of problems into the United States, including leprosy.
Evidently, illegal immigrants were one of the main causes of the soaring leprosy rate, which went from only a hundred-odd cases a year to 7000 in the last three years. Seven thousand! That's an awful lot of lepers! The only problem is that the figure isn't true at all. A few weeks back, during a piece on 60 Minutes, Lesley Stahl questioned the statistic, pointing out that it seems to be entirely untrue, in the sense that there is absolutely no proof for it, and that the available information seems to point in the opposite direction.
Dobbs admitted that the statistic was misleading if not entirely false. Then, the very next night, he hopped back on the air at CNN to reiterate and emphasize the immigrant-related leprosy rate. As David Leonhardt of the New York Times wrote, Dobbs "has never acknowledged on the air that his program presented false information twice. Instead, he lambasted the officials from the law center for saying he had."
This kind of behavior can really make someone unpopular in the news business. It can even make a guy a leper. So what gives? How can someone have such flagrant disregard for the truth? Is it an isolated incident or part of a pattern? Should he be permitted slips now and again? Should everyone? What standard should he be held to?
Here's a good piece on Dobbs from my magazine, the New Yorker. Below are the videos addressed above.
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Posted May 30th 2007 10:29AM by Ben Greenman
Filed under: Politics, Media, Illegal Immigration
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Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 7)
61. What I see is the usual attack on "anyone" that goes against the current administrations mind set.
Of all the people reporting the news, Lou Dobbs has told things the way they are, this is just a vicious attack (swift boat style) by the Neo Cons, LaRaza, big corporations to stop him from digging the truth out for the American public when no one else will.. If these groups do not agree with people who expose them, they'll do what ever they can to destroy whomever necessary, get them fired, relentlessly slime their reputation .
Too bad, people haven't noticed sooner how twisted the administrations lies have been for over six years, those who are attacking Lou Dobbs so viciously are really fearful of the truth. Lou Dobbs did apologize for any possible mistakes that may have been made, I'm sure he'll research and show positive proof his reporting has been much closer to the factual truth than any other reporting that is being spewed by others.
Jean at 2:11AM on May 31st 2007
62. THIS IS JUST ANOTHER TYPICAL REPUBLICAN HOOKER, MASTERS OF DECEPTION AND RACIAL AGITATORS, TRYING TO PLEASE CNN AND THEIR RACIAL CLIENTS
PRECIVITO at 2:59AM on May 31st 2007
63. I watch Lou Dobbs regularly and I think his reports are sensible and informative. He should run for President.
wanda at 4:51AM on May 31st 2007
64. This country needs someone like Lou Dobbs as President. If I could go back and change my vote I would have voted for Buchanan when he ran. I wonder how many other people feel they would change their vote if they could?
wanda at 4:52AM on May 31st 2007
65. I agree that Lou Dobbs' show is very opinionated, too opinionated at times, but please note that at the start of his show he admits that not everything is hard facts, but opinions as well. He has commented many times, right or wrong, that he doesn't believe that a reporter needs to remain objective, giving merely the he said, she said of a story, but that subjectivity is OK. I, as a journalist, disagree, but if he states at the onset that his program is not objective, why do we get so upset when he states opinions and not necessarily 100 percent facts?
myra at 6:27AM on May 31st 2007
66. I watch Lou every evening. I find him refreshing that he will take on any subject and give a full report.
If he is off on the statistics he will apologies, but no amount of polictical manuevering from the right is going to phase him one bit.
Thank God there is someone out there who has the guts to tell it like it is.
Ruth at 6:28AM on May 31st 2007
67. Have you seen the leprosy rates in the Phillipines?
Whether it's 100 cases or a 1,000 cases, the people need to know what's coming into our country. We have evangelists that go and preach the word and try to bring medical help to these countries and you're worried about a silly misrepresentation of a number? Small pox is small pox, leprosy is leprosy, a disease brought into this country is a risk for us and our children, I don't care how "well off " you are.
lin at 7:28AM on May 31st 2007
68. Cross reference and verifiable sources, where or who are they?
The so called news media has for some years not concerned itself exclusively with hard NEWS. Instead we see the talking heads, the TV personalities concentrating more on commentary or personal opinion usually presented as editorial items. Is it now common practice to take the word of merely one source, who in the instance of this specific Dobbs report is absented from an on air interview? This alone begs the question-WHY?
It seems to this writer that while the source in this report may be a respected and even highly placed expert, the resources of CNN news items research would demand that prior to broadcasting exactly this type of information they would be more responsible by further researching the facts, using more than one source to ensure total accuracy, thus providing us with several areas of verifiable and factual information.
Until we, the viewing public take it upon ourselves to further research the commentary selected by CNN such as this to further obfuscate or distract us from hard news subjects we must take each report on a case by case basis and either await further clarification or spend hours on our own to obtain all data pertaining to this type of questionable ratings noise.
CNN and all networks are irresponsible to the point of negligence. I just happened to see the programs pertaining to this blather.
One is left with head spin syndrome due to the constant rush to air often misleading information on the scandal of the week only to find that often within a few days/daZe, that story is dropped in favor of non news commentary and opinion cutting to a new ratings gainer subject.
Until all or any single news network or cable SHOW under the guise of presenting news sticks only to issues confronting our nation, our people, our government by presenting real NEWS worthy reports minus a television SHOW BIZ personality and his/her personal slant on things America must remember to believe non of what we hear and half of what we see.
This respondent finds PBS New Hour more insightful along with certain specific other programs which present us with a dialogue between their guest 'experts, the reporter concentrating on providing us with FACTS.
Pierpoint Windsor at 8:00AM on May 31st 2007
69. Oh get over it already. This nit-picking of this subject in an obvious attempt to discredit Dobbs is just childish. The fact that you would even defend the Southern Poverty Law Center tells me all I need to Know right there. The SPLC is just another ACLU and thats two too many of them already.
Scott at 3:44AM on Jun 1st 2007
70. Let's all start calling leprosy by it's proper name, Hansen diease. If any of you new anything about what your talking about you would have done so from the very beginning.
If you want the truth about what you all seem to know nothing about. Get in contact with the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta,Ga.
Ski at 9:19AM on May 31st 2007
71. If only the rabid Dobbs were the only one engaged in disseminating propoganda instead of news. It's a bad day for truth. A few people are willing to be Toto in the Wizard of OZ, pulling back the curtain, but over all speaking falsely even in a public forum -- ranging from hyperobole, to resume 'inflation,' to 'spin' to out right lies -- does not seem to generate the outrage it used to. A shame.
Another example of things not being quite whatthe purport: http://www.insidegreentech.com/node/1124#comment-183
David Carson at 10:19AM on May 31st 2007
72. The report on leprosy stated that the large increase of cases fron 700 to 3000 known cases was due to an increase in the number of states, 10 or 14, requiring doctors to report the disease. The disease was found in people mostly from Asian desent. The increase number in cases were not totally attributed to new cases due to immigration, because the data was not broken down by resident and immigrant, new cases and old cases.
The Lou Dobbs report is a piece of information the entire nation have.
So is the fact that 75% of all 17 cases of RDX TBs are from immigrants,legal or illegal. These people are truely a ticking time bombs for all that are around them. It is a matter of that people have been crossing our southern borders with diseases that have been long cured in this country and these people have been Illegal aliens. This is a fact with no intention to frighten anybody but merely to inform, just as Lou Dobbs does.
Why would anybody object to informing others of facts?
LaCosta at 10:37AM on May 31st 2007
73. whatever...dobbs is 10x the journalist most of these idiots are in the media. he and cooper anderson seek out and report on stories nobody else cares about. you're just jealous.
mf at 10:42AM on May 31st 2007
74. lou dobbs cares more about human rights and citizen rights than any media outlet in this country. elitists on the right and the left hate him because he calls them out.
mf at 10:42AM on May 31st 2007
75. The number I keep hearing of deaths of iraq civilians is 650,000 in 4 yrs of war in Iraq.No doubts? HMMM Where did that number come from that many use? Look closer-that is about 1600 days into 650,000 deaths=406 deaths per day. When did anyone hear of that kind of number of civilians dieing each and every day in Iraq? 406 a day??? When one needs to use lies to prop up an opinion they have a weak arguement. How stupid to use that number and how stupid many believe it without questioning >>>>>
what amazes me is that nobody EVER reported the 150,000 death of kurds at the hands of hussein to facilitate his oil deals with the french and russians and those numbers are undisputed.
fascinating how "journalists" police other reporters when they have not done their own jobs.
GO LOU DOBBS! they hate you because you make them look like idiots!
mf at 10:48AM on May 31st 2007