Andrew Friedman

The 2nd N in CNN

It stands for "News," right?

On Tuesday, I tuned into Lou Dobbs to watch DMI esteemed ED discuss immigration reform. I was horrified by what I saw. Actually, I missed Andrea, because I didn't start watching til 6:30, but I saw enough of Mr. Dobbs inflamatory and inaccurate "Broken Borders" segment to be shocked. I was watching the same network that the radical right had dubbed the "Communist News Network" a few years back.

Well, times have apparently changed. I had heard that CNN was trying to take on a more punchy, magazine format that highlighted the personalities of their anchors. I did not know that they gave such a wide berth to their newscasters to falsify the news, to opine ad nauseum, or to engage in on-air lobbying.

The first thing Lou Dobbs said after I tuned in was that there had been another "march of illegal aliens." In fact, he was referring to a march in favor of comprehensive immigration reform that was attended by citizens and immigrants alike. Pejorative, inaccurate shorthard is to be expected by the college Federalist Society's newsletter, but CNN's prime time "news" programming?

Then Lou started a rant about the American flag. He had found a slight against this symbol of our nation and he was going to give it prime time coverage. It turns out some high school students had flown a Mexican flag, and an upside down American flag to express an opinion about Congress' recent passgae of draconian immigration legislation. Lou was outraged that only one student was going to be disciplined. Big news!

Lou never mentioned the First Amendment and its role in American life during his tirade against political speech and acts that included expressing pride in one's countries of origin.

Then Lou started to chat with some radio personalities about how the Senate's immigration proposal was going to create a "slave society" and a "sharecropper society." Lou was particularly concerned that low wages were going to drag down "those of us living middle class lives." Presumably this is because immigrants would be allowed to work in this country instead of being deported. Hey Lou, they're already here, and they're already working. And the middle class lives. Go figure!

Lou capped his program by engaging in straight-up lobbying. After working his audience into a lather about our "broken borders," Lou gave out the telephone numbers for our representatives in Washington and encouraged his viewers to call and express their opinions. At not-for-profit organizations, we have to register with the government and file regular lobbying reports if we want to do what Lou did. It's called "indirect lobbying."

I doubt CNN is filing any reports. In fact, they didn't even seem to have any reporters working on the Lou Dobbs show.

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Posted at 7:39 AM, Apr 06, 2006 in Immigration
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