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.
Mo Rocca has appeared on a bunch of shows, including 'The Daily Show,' 'I Love the 80s,'...
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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 6 of 7)
76. Lou Dobbs for President. At least he's not a traitor who wants to give away the country like Bush, McCain, Kennedy, Pelosi and the rest of the traitors in Washington.
Robert Wayne at 10:48AM on May 31st 2007
77. Lou Dobbs is the only media outlet to report the fact that while most children of military personnel do not receive the benefit of in-state tuition and therefor cannot afford higher education because they are transferred too frequently.
illegal immigrants and their children do have access to that educational benefit and it is, in fact, protected by law. whereas our service people and their children frequently do not have access or opportunity to in-state tuition.
what other media outlet reported on that travesty? NONE.
mf at 10:55AM on May 31st 2007
78. While every other media outlet in america is raging on and on about the democrats vs. republicans, LOU DOBBS IS THE ONLY JOURNALIST REPORTING ON THE REAL REVOLUTION!
the elite against the working,law-abiding americans.
he is calling illegal immigration what it is...corporatized slavery meant to benefit big business and diminish our democratically created laws.
our immigration and labor laws once made us the greatest country in the world, because we honored safety, labor, wage laws and the working law-abiding man. it created an environment where all one needed to do was work hard and follow the law to achieve the american dream.
now america is the worst offender of human trafficking, sex slavery and coporate greed in the world. big business is reaping HUGE profits while americans go without health insurance. our public health system which once protected us and eliminated transmittable diseases in this country is going unenforced.
WHY? BECAUSE ELITIST AMERICANS ARE USING OUR COUNTRY TO MAKE MONEY AND REFUSING TO ENFORCE OUR LAWS.
LAW-ABIDING AMERICANS ARE NO LONGER BEING REPRESENTED.
NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!
thanks lou dobbs for caring about LEGAL immigrant families like ours and true americans who believe that america is more than an economy.
elitists like ben greenman and his counterparts may be a majority in the media and government, but we are a majority in this country. STAND UP!
raven at 10:55AM on May 31st 2007
79. Dobbs is a mixed bag. He's right on about outsourcing jobs and the danger of the HUGE deficit the Republicans ran up. For security reasons, he's been right all along about securing the border. But, he's like an egomaniacal old battle ax as he spreads his racist filth about the Mexican people. Years and years of Lou Dobbs growling every night about "our broken borders" = B-O-R-I-N-G
Phil at 10:58AM on May 31st 2007
80. by the way. Lou Dobbs doesn't blame "illegal immigrants" he blames the fact that we allow illegal immigration, that we ignore laws that were created using our democracy to protect our citizens and legal immigrants.
sorry bub, but THAT is unamerican. i realize many elitists believe that they can pick and choose laws and determine what they think is best for our country, but that's not the setup in a democracy.
we have these laws to protect people. i am grateful that lou dobbs sees the benefit in enforcing our laws.
the elitists who support breaking our laws and allowing illegal immigration, unenforced wage/labor/safety and public health laws, are in for a rude awakening as their money has protected them so far, but it will not protect them forever.
raven at 11:00AM on May 31st 2007
81. ONLY RACISTS SUPPORT ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION.
the idea that you can lump in all hispanics and immigrants with law breakers is a racist ideaology.
immigrants like my family come here because you are supposed to be afforded equal rights regardless of race or creed.
instead elitist americans believe that mexicans deserve special rights and that they should not be upheld to the law.
just because someone speaks spanish does not mean that we have anything in common with them. as americans, you are judged by the law, not by your race and we cannot ignore law-breakers simply because they are "latino" or mexican.
too many people are waiting for family here and struggling because we know that our laws are for the greater good. only elitists believe that people should have special dispensation based on their race.
immigrants should be an important part of america. elitist racists want to allow illegal immigration because when the laws are not enforced, immigrants are people who clean their toilets for $3 an hour.
raven at 11:04AM on May 31st 2007
82. i see from your bio greenman that you are the author of several works of fiction...one of them includes your report on lou dobbs.
mf at 11:10AM on May 31st 2007
83. LOU APPOLOGIZED FOR THE ERRORS IN REPORTING ON HIS PROGRAM LAST NIGHT AND DID EVERYTHING BUT COMMIT HARI KIRI IN FRONT OF ALL HIS VIEWERS.
WHEN HAS THE NY SLIME, BOSTON GLOBE, LA TIMES EVER RETRACTED THIER ERROREOUS STORIES OR APPOLGIZED FOR ANYTHING. THEY RESORT TO PERSONAL ATTACKS IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THIER VIEWPOINT?
WITH FEW EXCEPTIONS THE MEDIA IS BIASED TOWARDS LIBERALISM AND FURTHURING GLOBALISM AT THE EXPENSE OF THE AMERICAN TAX PAYING CITIZEN.
THE GLOBALIST CORPORATIONS HAVE DRAINED THE WEALTH OUT OF THIS COUNTRY AND ARE NOW DRIVING US ALL TO PILE UP MORE PERSONAL AND PUBLIC DEBT TO FILL THEIR COFFERS AND FURTHER THEIR GLOBALIST HEGEMONY.
WHICH IS WORTSE, BEING INVADED BY MEXICO AND HAVING OUR BORDERS LAUGUAGE AND CULTURE CHANGED, CONTINUE BEING RAPED AND PILLAGED BY THE GLOBALIST MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS OR TAKEN OVER BY THE ISLAMISTS?
YOU ONLY GET TO PICK ONE OF THE THREE.
Duane at 11:22AM on May 31st 2007
84. These egregious lapses occur because the public and the news industry tolerate routine distortion of the truth in the name of opinion. Dobbs isn't the only pundit an ostensible news organization parades as a news person. CNN followed Fox news into the pig-pen of hate broadcasting when they hired Dobbs, then Nancy Grace then Glen Beck. Systematic fact checking of any among this hate-spewing triad would turn up consistent "errors" (read "lies"), though Grace and Beck tend toward more slippery propaganda techniques involving intonation and insinuation.
The problem is media consumers don’t seem to care about the difference between news and opinion. We let these pundits pass off as news people, using clips aired during the previous hours as news. CNN has such very very low ethics they let the hateful Nancy Grace use a “breaking news” subtitle during her program for information that is neither breaking, nor presented as news.
Dobbs’ closed-minded approach is painfully evident in his stilted interjection of the adjective “our” each time he refers to United States troops, and his requirement that each of his substitutes also use the audience-selecting technique. CNN is watched by citizens of almost every nation in the world. For CNN to allow a host to refer to troops as “ours” is to state that their broadcasts are slanted to advocate for US interests rather than to provide news of general human interest. The stance establishes the network as a propaganda service for US nationalism. Nationalism is a disease we have seen fester to an infection of catastrophic proportion time and again in the past century.
Dan Daniels at 11:31AM on May 31st 2007
85. OH LOOK! Lou Dobbs is now being SWIFT BOATED and everyone with a functional brain knows this smear campaign is directly related to his oppostion of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. And the story has Bush, Cheney and Rover STINK all over it.
.......................
Kitty at 11:28AM on May 31st 2007
86. If it gets down to a contest between Lou and the government over who to believe, I pick Lou!
margaret at 11:35AM on May 31st 2007
87. Im on the left and am drifting farther that way as time goes on. But Lou Dobbs speaks for working Americans.He is one of the most straight forward guys on TV today. He is angry,and so am I. I dont hate people I just want American workers treated fair.
John at 11:46AM on May 31st 2007
88. Lou Dobbs is always doing something like this. I just wish the guy would report the news instead of being the news or making it up. He acts like he has all this stuff figured out and the goverment has no clue, well if true the Lou should run for office and get right up there to straighten the goverment out. Lou sits on his CNN soap box where he has all the power but no accountabilty, must be nice.
Turfin at 11:45AM on May 31st 2007
89. Dobbs is absolutly right on the topic of imigration. Illegal is Illegal, having a fluid border is insane in todays world. You can get a tourist visa from anywhere in the world to mexico or central america in 3 days, do you think the "coyote" cares if the person or people are from the middle east. Dobbs relentless spotlighting of the issue will ultimatly cause a more humane and dignified method to immigrate here for millions. Im a liberal and child of a first generation Mexican migrant, I say, Go Lou, tell them like it is...
Rudy at 12:05PM on May 31st 2007
90. Anna L Richard, so I guess that counts for DEMs too like when Bill Clinton bombed those two child milk factories in Iraq telling us Saddam was making WMD there and how Saddam was a threat to the world for refusing to co-op with UN inspectors and had to be removed. The only differance between Bill and George is George actauly did something about it. I just hope DEMs do not ignore Iraq, Iran, Syria, AQ, Taliban, Hamas and Hezz like they did for 8 years under Bill Clinton.
Turfin at 4:22PM on May 31st 2007