MediaMatters: Lou Dobbs’ coverage of the phony controversy surrounding President Obama’s birth certificate ran afoul of CNN president Jon Klein, who sent a memo to Dobbs’ staff telling them to knock it off with all the “birther” stories. This apperently enraged “Mr. Independent,” who was given a choice — stick to news on TV and leave the garbage for your radio show, or quit CNN. Apparently, the bigot chose what he is most comfortable with — LIES, BIGOTRY and ANTI-IMMIGRANT XENOPHOBIA. [ READ MORE ]
Notes: The New York times reports that months ago the president of CNN/U.S., Jonathan Klein, offered a choice to Lou Dobbs, the channel’s most outspoken anchor. Mr. Dobbs could vent his opinions on radio and anchor an objective newscast on television, or he could leave CNN. [ READ MORE ]
From DropDobbs.com: Over the years, Lou Dobbs has consistently used his CNN platform to spread hatred and fear. He has promoted the work of hate groups, spread racially charged conspiracy theories including about President Obama’s birth certificate, railed against “ethnocentric special interests,” and accused the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of being sympathetic to “Mexico’s export of drugs and illegal aliens.” When advertisers sponsor Lou Dobbs, this is what they are paying for: [ READ MORE ]
Lou Dobbs’ History of Anti-Immigrant Bigotry, Hate and Obama Bashing
Over the years, Lou Dobbs’s anti-immigrant campaign has been very similar to that conducted against Jews by Dr. Joseph Goebbels — “Minister for Public Enlightenment & Propaganda in Nazi Germany.”
1. In Nazi Germany Jews were scapegoated as the source of Germany’s economic woes. In the United States, Lou Dobbs has insinuated repeatedly that the economic troubles of the “middle class” is a direct result of U.S. jobs being exported overseas and by extension – immigrants are either stealing jobs from “middle class” directly and/or driving down wages. There is some truth in the “wage” element of this assertion, but without bothering to explain the “mechanics” of this claim, Lou’s over simplification results in “uninformed” contempt by his viewers of immigrants in general.
2. In Nazi Germany, audiences were continually reminded of the struggle of the Nazi Party and Germany against foreign enemies and internal enemies, especially Jews. In the present United States, Lou Dobbs always reminds his audience, that millions of foreigners and criminal illegal immigrants are running rampant in the United States, quite contrary to official statistics. He often invites “white-supremacists” and demagogue politicians from racially intolerant constituencies, as analysts and commentators in his shows — while denouncing civil rights groups such as the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center as “despicable” and “reprehensible.” The few pro-immigrant guests invited to Mr. Dobbs’ shows are routinely scolded and lambasted for their stance. To stir the pot further, Mr. Dobbs’ always ends his TV shows with un-scientific impromptu polls, that are always skewed and probably doctored — maliciously presented as the view of the majority.
3. Propagandists lauded Germany as the sole defender of what they called “Western European culture” against the “Bolshevist hordes(Russians).” In his highly touted town hall meetings (a few years ago), the issue of English as an official language came up — the fear that English will be “replaced,” by the Spanish language [...a subliminal insinuation that the white Anglo-Saxon culture in being contaminated] has been used repeatedly by Lou Dobbs and co., to drive fear up the spines of Americans.
4. Jews in Nazi Germany were branded as disease carriers, contaminants of the pure German race — a few years ago, Lou Dobbs and despite being confronted with undisputed evidence to the contrary, maintained his claim that there have been 7,000 new cases of leprosy in the U.S. in recent years attributing the increase to “unscreened illegal immigrants.” Such irresponsible utterances in mainstream media, only help to embolden hate groups — who gather often to keep the ‘Cradle of the Confederacy‘ safe from leprosy, pedophiles, Spanish and rampant godlessness.
From the yellowed columns of newsprint, Ms. Tucher . . . skillfully draws a contemporary moral. — New York Times Book Review
[Tucher] presents the colorful story of the early penny press with all the verve, intelligence, and humor it merits. — American Heritage
A deceptively complex book. . . . A readable, racy, and often funny study of an important aspect of antebellum social history. — American Historical Review
This well-written book is a valuable contribution to the literature on journalism in the nineteenth century. — Journal of the Early Republic
This is scholarship as solid as oak and history as timely as today’s tabloid titillation. — Bill Moyers
Product Description
Two notorious antebellum New York murder cases–a prostitute slashed in an elegant brothel and a tradesman bludgeoned by the brother of inventor Samuel Colt–set off journalistic scrambles over the meanings of truth, objectivity, and the duty of the press that reverberate to this day.
In 1833 an entirely new kind of newspaper–cheap, feisty, and politically independent–introduced American readers to the novel concept of what has come to be called objectivity in news coverage. The penny press was the first medium that claimed to present the true, unbiased facts to a democratic audience. But in Froth and Scum, Andie Tucher explores–and explodes–the notion that ‘objective’ reporting will discover a single, definitive truth.
As they do now, news stories of the time aroused strong feelings about the possibility of justice, the privileges of power, and the nature of evil. The prostitute’s murder in 1836 sparked an impassioned public debate, but one newspaper’s ‘impartial investigation’ pleased the powerful by helping the killer go free. Colt’s 1841 murder of the tradesman inspired universal condemnation, but the newspapers’ singleminded focus on his conviction allowed another secret criminal to escape. By examining media coverage of these two sensational murders, Tucher reveals how a community’s needs and anxieties can shape its public truths. The manuscript of this book won the 1991 Allan Nevins Prize of the Society of American Historians for the best-written dissertation in American history.
