Dobbs responded to leprosy criticism by falsely suggesting he had admitted error
SUMMARY: On the May 30 edition of his show, CNN's Lou Dobbs characterized an inaccurate citation in 2005 of the number of leprosy cases in the United States as "an ad-lib on the set of this broadcast uttered more than two years ago ... an unscripted ad-lib, not a report," and claimed that he "set this record straight a couple of weeks ago." But on the May 16 show to which he referred, Dobbs did not correct the inaccurate report, as Media Matters for America noted; instead, he misrepresented it without admitting error.
In response to a New York Times column by David Leonhardt that noted CNN correspondent Christine Romans' inaccurate citation two years ago on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight of the number of leprosy cases in the United States, host and CBS Early Show contributor Lou Dobbs claimed on the May 30 program that he "set this record straight a couple of weeks ago." But as Leonhardt noted, Dobbs "has never acknowledged on the air that his program presented false information twice." As Media Matters for America noted, Dobbs insisted on the May 6 edition of CBS' 60 Minutes and the May 7 Lou Dobbs that the original report was correct. And on the May 16 edition of Lou Dobbs to which he referred, Dobbs did not correct Romans' report, as he claimed on the May 30 show and in Leonhardt's column that he had done; instead, as Media Matters noted, he misrepresented what Romans had said without admitting error. On the May 30 show, still not admitting that Romans' 2005 statistic of "7,000" cases of leprosy in the United States "in the past three years" was wrong, Dobbs called it "an ad-lib on the set of this broadcast uttered more than two years ago ... an unscripted ad-lib, not a report," ignoring his defenses of the report in May.
On the April 14, 2005, edition of Lou Dobbs, Romans aired a quote by Madeleine Cosman, anti-immigration activist and founding director of the Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the City College of New York. Cosman said: "We have some enormous problems with horrendous diseases that are being brought into America by illegal aliens." After the report, Romans said that Cosman "told us that there were about 900 cases of leprosy for 40 years. There have been 7,000 in the past three years." However, as Media Matters noted, there had not been 7,000 cases of leprosy "in the past three years," as Romans said. According to the National Hansen's Disease Program (NHDP) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), there were 398 cases of Hansen's disease, or leprosy, reported between 2002 and 2004 -- "the past three years" at the time Cosman made her statement.
CBS News correspondent Lesley Stahl challenged Romans' numbers during a profile on Dobbs on the May 6 edition of 60 Minutes. The next day, Dobbs told Romans on Lou Dobbs: "I stand 100 percent behind what you said." Romans said, "We don't make up numbers here," and supported her claim that her figure was accurate by quoting from Cosman's article: "Hansen's disease was so rare in America that in 40 years only 900 people were afflicted. Suddenly, in the past three years America has more than 7,000 cases of leprosy." Neither mentioned the HHS statistics.
On the May 16 edition of Lou Dobbs, in a report on leprosy, CNN correspondent Bill Tucker gave accurate leprosy statistics, but he did not mention Romans' citations of Cosman. Later during the same program, in an interview with representatives of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Dobbs misrepresented Romans' citation, claiming that the 7,000 number referred to "active" cases of leprosy rather than cases "in the past three years." Dobbs said, "[W]e did not say there were new cases at any time," adding, "What we said in point of fact was that there are 7,000 cases on the ... active leprosy register." Later, Dobbs stated: "So we did not say, we quite agree, that there were 7,000 new cases. We said there were 7,000 on the registry."
In his May 30 New York Times "Economix" column, Leonhardt documented the history of the citation, noting the actual HHS statistics, and concluding: "So Mr. Dobbs was flat-out wrong." Leonhardt wrote that Dobbs "admitted as much, sort of," in a conversation the two had, and when Leonhardt read Romans' citation to Dobbs, the CNN host replied: "I think that is wrong." Leonhardt then wrote that Dobbs told him "that as far as he [Dobbs] was concerned, he [Dobbs] had corrected the mistake" on May 16, even though, Leonhardt added, "he [Dobbs] has never acknowledged on the air that his program presented false information twice." Leonhardt concluded: "[I]f CNN were serious about being 'the most trusted name in news,' as it claims to be, don't you think it would be big enough to issue an actual correction?"
According to mediabistro's TVNewser weblog, CNN issued a written statement in response to Leonhardt's column, in which CNN stated that "Lou Dobbs took the initiative to set the record straight in a full report on the subject two weeks ago," presumably referring to Tucker's May 16 report. Dobbs' May 30 report was posted in a commentary on CNN.com the next day.
From the May 30 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight:
DOBBS: Now, if I may, a personal note tonight that I'd like to share with you: I've been, over the years -- because of our reporting on controversial issues and my strongly held beliefs on those issues -- attacked, and usually pretty vigorously, by both the left wing and the right wing of this nation's media, both mainstream and otherwise, and of course the politicians that form the extremes of our political spectrum.
As a matter of fact, 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.
I'm regularly attacked by the left wing as well -- the Southern Poverty Law Center, The New York Times, The Nation, MALDEF [Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund], and MEChA [Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán] -- for my opposition to illegal immigration.
Today, The New York Times published a column that picks up where an advertisement, a paid advertisement in the Times, paid for by the Southern Poverty Law Center, left off two weeks ago.
Today's New York Times column is primarily a personal attack on me, focuses on an ad-lib on the set of this broadcast uttered more than two years ago by Christine Romans on the number of cases of leprosy in this country, an unscripted ad-lib, not a report -- by the way, we've never done a report on leprosy until we had to set this record straight a couple of weeks ago. That's over four and a half years of reporting on that issue.
So Lou Dobbs says flat out, "If we reported it, it's true."
And now he's falsely claiming he "admitted his mistake."
CNN has gone straight into the Fox gutter.
If Dobbs says he admitted his mistake, it must be true.
Lou has all the credibility of Bush.
How Lou Dobbs handles his Dan Rather moment:
LOU DOBBS: And “The New York Times” criticizing me, accusing me of mistakes of fact of two years ago and four years ago. Tonight we’ll set the record straight. We’ll tell you who’s really telling the truth and who the commies are and who the fascists are, who have the temerity to attack me.
Yeah, sounds like an admission to me!
Wow, I thought your quote was a spoof until I watched the clip at thinkprogress.org. "Commies" and "facists"? What a complete nutjob. Even if that was supposed to be some bizarrely misguided joke, he's still a complete nutjob. I think we've officially reached the point where we can safely dismiss everything Lou Dobbs has to say.
Pure hubris. He is on the O'reilly fast-track.
"I'm a poor rich man with the ultimate podium. People hate me on both sides, even though I'm always right."
He's going to crack soon, just like O'Reilly and Limbaugh.
As fear-stricken and maniacly self-centered as are these named personalities, they hardly are "going to crack" and go shattered into their justly deserved obliteration. Rather, as their recanting lies and going toward truth gets tough, they probably abruptly jump airship, and bail out on the corporate co-workers they are the labored-over and overpaid face before, leaving the airfoil to plummet, crash land, and sink beneath the video waves, ending the career lives of everyone they abandon onboard, very much in the wimp-out style of the engineer and conductor of today's disaster Americana, lethally done to his crew in dubya-dubya-two.
I wonder if we could create a sort of Leper's colony of the faux journalists and pundits on TV and radio. It would be a far flung place that had no communication, like the island on Lost. O'Reilly or Savage could be the creepy, manipulative character "Ben". And they would drive themselves crazy by trying to get a signal whereby they could gain some attention to spout ridiculous diatribes, but alas nobody can hear them. John Gibson gets TB and Lou Dobbs gets leprosy and they could be saved with a new stem cell line created by a Mexican immigrant. But Lou rejects it and Gibson is too busy dualing with O'Reilly for dibs on the War on Christmas. Rush Limbaugh's mic has been cut by O'Reilly 'cause he stole oxycontin and cigars. He perishes by being thrust on his own petard.
I'm in, JJ.Except I'd like a spin-off of another show.I'm picturing Rush smacking Hannity with his skipper cap.
And that "Ginger or Mary-Anne" dilemma that guys puzzle over? Imagine if the choices are Melanie Morgan and Ann Coulter.
Yikes!
Tough finding The Professor in the righty media crowd.Maybe Dennis Prager or Michael Medved by default. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king (or professor).
Yes, HBL. I'd say broad comedy is the way to go with these hapless righty bottom dwellers. But if you're gonna have a Ginger/Maryanne thing, we have to find more attractive wimmin folk. I know Dtrain likes Michelle Malkin. Anne C is just too ewwww.
The fact that Dobbs invited on the cult like members of the SPLC and addressed something dating four years back adds to his appeal just as his handling it badly took some away.
Over all though, Dobbs program is the closest one to a truly populist one covering populist issues from both sides that is currently being aired.
There are not too many shows that would introduce to the public books both by Bay Buchanan and Christopher Hitchens and treat them both with equal respect as guests.
I could easily see the Dobbs show rbringing on a guest from Media Matters once a month to do a run down on misinformation more so than any of the others. They just would not be able to tolerate it.
A populist, by design, must admit his error if he still wants to retain any personifications of populism. The common man isn't stupid, and treating him like a stupid person who doesn't know the difference is what turns people off. If you are a Dobbs supporter, get off of this board and contact the man himself and ask him to tell the truth. It's that simple.
Why don't they get it?
The fact that Dobbs might do some things well doesn't make him immune from criticism. The fact that Imus was good at raising money for charity didn't mean we should ignore what he said about innocent college basketball players, even if he meant it as a joke.
Lou's wrong. He knows he's wrong. The ways he is defending himself are wrong. First he says, "If we said it, it's a fact." Then he calls it an "unscripted adlib." If he's calling it an unscripted adlib, he's obviously admitting that it was said in error but is trying to minimize it.
If Lou wants to be credible with people who think, he needs to acknowledge when he's wrong, just like he wants others who he is critical of to do.
Yep, that one amazed me...if it's an "adlib," you can make the crap up. Only "reports" need to be accurate. So, how are we to know when they are engaging in one vs the other?