Public Eye
May 7, 2007 10:14 AM

Dobbs Makes His Case

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
4th Estate Debate
(CBS)
The most awkward moment by far in last night's "60 Minutes" came right after Lesley Stahl's profile of Lou Dobbs wrapped up. Addressing the audience, Stahl announced this: "While we were talking to Dobbs, unbeknownst to us, he was talking to CBS News and has now joined 'The Early Show' as a weekly commentator."

Seeing as Stahl had just spent part of the segment questioning Dobbs' journalistic credentials, it was a startling admission, at least for those who haven't been following Dobbs' arrival at CBS News. But it was also a necessary one, and "60 Minutes" clearly did the right thing by disclosing the CNN host's connections to CBS News.

In the piece, Dobbs calls himself an "advocacy journalist," a concept Stahl presses him on. Here's that portion of the transcript:

STAHL: I'm sitting here saying to myself, `This man runs a news show?'

Mr. DOBBS: Hmm. I do.

STAHL: And you can just tell me you don't like the president. Whoo.

Mr. DOBBS: I, matter of fact, insist that the audience know where I come from.

STAHL: What about fair and balanced?

Mr. DOBBS: I've never, Lesley, found the truth to be fair and balanced. I found it to be...

STAHL: But that's--but wait, what's the definition of "journalism?" That that's in there.

Mr. DOBBS: I...

STAHL: That has to be part of what a journalist is, is fair and balanced.

Mr. DOBBS: I truly believe there's a nonpartisian, independent reality. But more of the same...

STAHL: But it's your reality.

Mr. DOBBS: It is my reality.

STAHL: But it's not the reality.

Mr. DOBBS: Well, how so?

(Footage of Dobbs)

STAHL: (Voiceover) Dobbs scoffs at suggestions that his advocacy tarnishes his credentials as a journalist.

Mr. DOBBS: The idea that a reporter should be disqualified because he or she actually cares, actually isn't neutral about the well-being of the country and its people, that's absurd.
I'm hesitant to just dash off a couple lines about this – the debate over what makes a "journalist" is about as old as journalism itelf, and its an issue that deserves a more thorough treatment than I can give it here. But I wanted to post this and see if anyone wanted to weigh in on Dobbs definition of journalism, which one might also apply to people like Bill O'Reilly, Keith Olbermann, and even jailed blogger Josh Wolf.

The question, I think, is this: Should journalists try to overcome their natural biases and present some semblance of an objective reality? Or are they better off embracing those biases and bringing their own reality, as Dobbs does, to their audience?

Add a Comment See all 13 Comments
by marsha561 May 8, 2007 9:29 PM EDT


Lou Dobbs is my hero ! He represents my feelings about ILLEGAL immigration and the feelings of almost everyone I know ! I too
wish he would run for PRESIDENT !
Reply to this comment
by marsha561 May 8, 2007 9:26 PM EDT


Lou Dobbs is my hero ! He represents my feelings about ILLEGAL immigration and the feelings of almost everyone I know ! I too
wish he would run for PRESIDENT !
Reply to this comment
by johncabell May 8, 2007 6:47 PM EDT
Without taking sides on Dobbs advocacy doesn't necessarily disqualify one from being a journalist. Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel, for example, rule out "fairness" or "balance" as one of the nine precepts to the craft in "The Elements of Journalism."

"Where is fairness? Where is balance?" they write in the book's introduction. "After synthesizing what we learned, it became clear that a number of familiar and even useful ideas -- including fairness and balance -- are too vague to rise to the level of essential elements of the profession.%u201D

Of course merely expressing opinions on a variety of topics isn't journalism -- so maybe Bill O'Reilly is a maybe. And avoiding inconvenient information in pursuit of a story isn't journalism either -- so maybe Josh Wolf's interview with Kevin Sites is compelling evidence Wolf isn't either. Olbermann is an unapologetic liberal -- disclosure isn't a bad thing, is it? -- but Bob Schieffer has been doing commentary on Sunday morning for much longer than Keith and nobody (quite correctly) questions his credentials. Charges of editorial bias are often slung by people seeking cover to promote their own agendas. In these effort, "fairness" and "balance" have become synomyms for "accurate."

But they are not. Accuracy -- going wherever the story takes you -- is the paramount rule of good journalism. But insisting on a "fair and balanced" litmus is too often intended to dilute, not illuminate.
~~~
www.planetabell.com: reflections on politics+media
Reply to this comment
by mattcat25 May 8, 2007 1:10 PM EDT
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, founded March 23, 2005 by the heads of state of Canada, Mexico and the United States, was born in response to what some see as the evident necessity for the North American continent to take new steps to address the threat of terrorism and to enhance the security, competitiveness and quality of life of their countries' citizens.


George W. Bush created this agreement between Canada and Mexico%u2019s right wing presidents. The GOP and the Bush administration are at odds over imigration. The Republics don%u2019t want a continued influx of non-anglo cultured immigrants in the US but, do want to downgrade the American middle working class into a majority (85%) slave class of workers.

The agreement, or merger of the 3 North American Countries will see the construction of the super highway from Lubbock Texas through Canada. This highway will be a toll road (as all others will be in America) using non-union truck drivers to transport freight from non-union Chinese producers from non-union ports in Mexico.

The United States, or %u201CThe United North America%u201D will see the end of the American Middle Class and the Constitution as we know it, giving way to a Corporate Ruling Class dictated by the top 2%.

Bon Chance
Buenos Suerte
And, Good Luck to us all%u2026.
Reply to this comment
by laura4271 May 8, 2007 3:06 AM EDT
FORGOT TO SAY, BUSH IS "MERGING" US WITH MEXICO! WITHOUT ASKING AMERICANS IF THEY WANT TO MERGE WITH THIS MOST CORRUPT COUNTRY IN THE WORLD (AND ALSO WITH CANADA). THAT IS WHY HE IS LETTING IN AS MANY ILLEGAL ALIENS FROM MEXICO AS HE CAN AND THEN WILL JUST SAY "OH, WELL, WE JUST HAVE SO MANY, WE WILL HAVE TO "MERGE" OUR COUNTRIES! HE HAS 20-25 AGENCIES PUT IN PLACE WHO ARE DOING THIS WHILE AMERICANS HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS HAPPENING AND THE BP ARE ORDERED NOT TO TELL (BUT THEY HAVE TOLD AND MANY PEOPLE DOWN AT THE BORDER KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING. HE MAKES THE MINUTEMEN (THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO ARE TRYING TO SAVE THIS COUNTRY FROM INVASION) INTO VIGILANTES BUT THEY ARE NOT, THEY OBSERVE AND REPORT TO THE BORDER PATROL - G-D BLESS THEM! LA RAZA'S MOTTO: FOR THE (MEXICAN) RACE - EVERYTHING; ANYONE OUTSIDE THE (MEXICAN) RACE (GETS) NOTHING! WAKE UP, AMERICA! AND THANK G-D FOR LOU DOBBS WHO SPEAKS FOR AMERICANS. WISH HE COULD RUN FOR PRESIDENT!
Reply to this comment
by laura4271 May 8, 2007 2:39 AM EDT
Lou Dobbs is doing what every other media in the U.S. does except he is actually telling "ALL" the truth! and he is the voice of the people. Our local newspapers don't tell us what is really happening, the destruction of our nation by an invasion of 30 to 40 million invaders who owe no allegiance to this country and are coming to take what they can get from us: especially our jobs which big business wants to give them as these invaders undercut Americans' wages. Lou tells all the different aspects of this absolutely humongous problem from our schools to our jobs to our industries going overseas to seek out cheap labor and so much more. Our newspapers tell us what they want us to know and on top of it all push this illegal alien agenda in their editorials. Americans don't have a clue how serious this problem really is. They don't know about AZTLAN - the Mexican movement (see www.aztlan.net) that is racist, anti-American and anti-Semitic that plans to take over the SW of the U.S. and then the whole U.S. if they can (and they are doing it). Lou tells us the whole truth and let's us decide. The media only tells us what the globalists want us to know so we can be taken over easily. They even refuse to mention the North American Union well on its way where 1 million Texans are having their land & homes stolen - did you hear about it in the news? And you won't either.
Reply to this comment
by anhhung18901 May 8, 2007 1:40 AM EDT
I have rather nuanced feelings about Lou Dobbs.

Is he a journalist? I don't know, but he has led me to think over the last two years or so about journalistic objectivity. At times I wonder if the commitment to fairness and balance is moral.

Bad news helps ensure job security for journalists, but at the same time journalists have the skills and aptitudes to spark positive change -- something that Dobbs in his delusional state allegedly is trying to do.

Objectivity, in my view, renders many journalists impotent to promote much needed action to correct wrongs and ameliorate imperfect situations. Allowing bad to occur without attempting to counteract it is immoral.

While I cannot stand Mr. Dobbs, I'll concede that his apparent desire to defend the middle class has some moral aspects. He doesn't allow the false notion that the truth is always fair or balanced to impede "insightful" analysis.

Although his desires even as a purported journalist don't irk me, but he only offers bellyaching sans empowerment. If he truly cares about his pet causes, he would actively educate people who lack clout, time, and spare income about how they can improve their own plight.

Dobbs merely riles people up without giving them any way to harness such passion He is all bark -- more like pout -- and no bite. Advocacy -- journalistic or not -- does little if people whinge and not act.
Reply to this comment
by phoenixandy May 8, 2007 1:37 AM EDT
CBS News has kowtowed to mental midgets like ladymunchkin to put Lou Dobbs on The Early Show.
Reply to this comment
by laraloganfan May 7, 2007 9:10 PM EDT
Simple economics. Too many workers, too few decent jobs = stress, low wages, unempowered workers, easy scapegoating of the wrong people.

I do think dobbs has touched a raw POWERFUL not fully tapped nerve in the electorate -- and it shows that deeper unresolved problems are brewing related first and foremost to the devolving economic plight of american workers.

What do americans historically do when feeling stressed out and insecure economically? Instead of targeting the true source of the problem -- the rich and powerful, the greedy power holders, decision makers & their flunkies in congress -- the 10% of the elite who control 90% of this country's resources -- WHO CONTROL & PILLAGE THE ECONOMY'S WEALTH created by workers -- amerikkkans LASH OUT at easy scapegoats: Chinese, Native Americans, Latinos. It has been this way since the 1800s.

Americans suffer from both being bullied and being bullies. With superficial capacity for self examiniation and deep reflection.

Those who have been abused know how to abuse -- they rarely develop any consciousness about it.

Lou is on to something Potent/meaningful, but he suffers from a lot of fuzzy thinking and short-sighted AHISTORICAL analysis.

The VIOLENT CRIMINAL LAW BREAKING immigrants SHOULD BE THE TARGETED PRIORITY TO REMOVE in conjunction with the BUSINESSES & those powerful greedy SOBs who benefit from American wages being suppressed by a desperate work force.

Reply to this comment
by ladymunchkin May 7, 2007 7:04 PM EDT
Lou Dobbs was the first and for a long time the only journalist that was even addressing the Illegal Immigration problems facing this Country. If it hadn't been for Lou how many people would have even known there was a problem. He tells it like it is and that has angered the Pro Illegal groups to the point of wanting to get him fired. Anytime you tell the truth about something that someone wants to keep hidden you will draw criticism.

I say Bravo Lou and keep up the good work. America needs a truth teller, especially in this day and age of Government lies.
Reply to this comment
See all 13 Comments
.

Follow Public Eye

Scroll Left
Scroll Right More »
CBS News on Facebook
  • Building You a Better Morning

  • CBS This Morning

    "CBS This Morning," anchored by Charlie Rose, Gayle King and Erica Hill, airs weekdays from 7 to 9 a.m. ET and at the same time in other time zones.
    Learn more...