Ted Turner would fire Lou Dobbs. How do I know? Because Ted Turner said so:
This excerpt from Ted Turner's April 1, 2008 interview on PBS, in which the visionary founder of CNN tells Charlie Rose he would fire Lou Dobbs, bears repeating:
Rose: Lou Dobbs used to be a friend of yours.
Turner: He's still a friend of mine.
Rose: Yeah.
Turner: But I think he's kinda flipped out. I wouldn't ... Tom Johnson and I wouldn't let him do this when he was working at CNN. He just had to do the financial news straight, you know, and not fill it up with his opinions about who he hates and doesn't like the Mexicans and immigration.
Rose: So what would you do if you were running CNN today?
Turner: I'd call him in and chew him out.
Rose: You'd say either you tow the line or you can't work here?
Turner: That's exactly right.
Rose: That's what you'd do?
Turner: That's what we did before.
Rose: With him [Dobbs]?
Turner: Yeah.
Rose: Yeah.
The full one hour DVD of this Charlie Rose/Ted Turner interview was provided to me in the summer of 2008 by Phillip Evans, Vice President and Chief Communications Officer of Turner Enterprises. I've been monitoring Dobbs for years, TEVOing his shows and observing his worsening narcissism. Dobbs is an anomaly on CNN in how he operates more in service to himself than in service to CNN. He stands apart from the network's other anchors in his rabid ideological rage and megalomaniacal self-promotion. Wolf Blitzer may be a drama-seeking nudge with annoying subject-ridden phraseology, but one could hardly imagine Blitzer tagging himself Mr. Independent and reading only admiring emails on-air, including demands that he run for President.
Right now the speculation is that Dobbs will be moving to Fox, on the heels of his ilk, Glenn Beck and John Stossel. That may be true, but the question I and others continue to ask is why Jonathan Klein, President of CNN/US, has kept Dobbs employed for this long -- considering Dobbs' vengeful attacks on Latinos, Latino organizations, ACORN, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and more.
I've sought this answer from CNN on several occasions. I've also asked CNN's response, and Lou Dobbs' response, to why Dobbs wasn't included in post debate and post event analyses during the 2008 Presidential campaign as part of CNN's self-anointed "best political team on television"? Dobbs did make one or two appearances, but the disharmony between Dobbs and the rest of "the team" was palpable. During one post-debate event, Donna Brazile figuratively wiped the floor with Dobbs, chastising him and telling him he "wasn't her beau," which left Dobbs crimson and toothily bemused. Brazile handily won one for "the team."
On April 7, 2009, I shared a few email exchanges and phone calls with Carolyn Disbrow, Senior Publicist for Turner Broadcasting, in which I asked the following Lou Dobbs question:
Why isn't Mr. Dobbs included in analyses along with other CNN anchors who do joint/group analyses under the heading of "the best political team on television" after major media/political events (i.e., presidential press conferences, etc.)? Mr. Dobbs made a few pre-election appearances with his colleagues -- and then no more.
Ms. Disbrow responded with the following email:
Lou is one of CNN's top anchors. In addition to his nightly show on CNN, his visibility has increased in the last year with a daily rebroadcast on HLN, live election specials on HLN, and commentary on CNN.com". From a CNN spokesperson.
When I asked Disbrow why the need for an anonymous spokesperson for such a non-response to my question, she obliged by saying I could use her name. Hence, I am. This benign exchange was more than I ever got from Dobbs' office which refused my phone requests for interviews and answers to simple questions.
Still the person I've most wanted to speak with regarding Lou Dobbs has always been Ted Turner. It was Turner who brought Dobbs to CNN in 1980 at the suggestion of Sam Zelman, then executive in charge of on-air hires for the launch of the new cable network. I knew Dobbs and Turner had endured a long friendship. I believed Turner would be appalled by Dobbs' unmitigated bias and viciousness toward specific ethnic groups, and toward the United Nations to which Turner was a billion dollar donor. Though I didn't speak directly to Turner who was then out of the country, Phillip Evans, his Communications Director, couldn't have been more helpful. He was so eager to share Turner's Charlie Rose interview that he messengered the DVD overnight.
Here's another clip from that Charlie Rose interview where Turner discusses Dobbs' bigotry toward Latinos and Dobb's potential to ignite violence. Please note that this interview was conducted in April, 2008 during the Presidency of George W. Bush, whose administration Turner refers to in the clip:
If Jonathan Klein were as responsible an executive as Ted Turner, and as conscientious a citizen as Ted Turner, he would be as concerned as Ted Turner about the danger of Lou Dobbs. But Klein has been both derelict and impotent in his refusal to address Dobbs' disparagements which devalue CNN. Ted Turner would quash them.
Here's an exchange last year between Dobbs and Ted Turner when Turner appeared on Dobbs' show.
In Ted Turner's autobiography, Call Me Ted, he speaks of his inspired philosophy and vision for his revolutionary Cable News Network. Ted says:
Although I hadn't watched much television news, I did have some strong opinions about what I wanted CNN to be. While the networks and local news stations seemed to follow an "if it bleeds, it leads" rule, centering their broadcasts on murders, car wrecks, disasters, and the like, I wanted us to do more serious journalism and to go deeper into the more important issues of the day. I also wanted to present the news in an unbiased fashion. At that time, some of the evening anchors, including Walter Cronkite, were injecting their own opinions into the telecasts and I didn't like it. [Reese] Schonfeld and I decided that on CNN, news would be the star, not our on-air people.
And the result of Dobbs The Star: CNN is now tarnished and Klein and Dobbs are both to blame.
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Andy Borowitz: Lou Dobbs Returns to His Planet; 'My Work Here is Done'
Controversial CNN host Lou Dobbs bade the people of Earth farewell today as he embarked on a long voyage back to his planet of origin.
Good for Ted Turner for putting him in his place and letting him know he would pull him in.
I would throw him out....
who agrees with me?
Ed
I have nothing against hispanics what-so-ever, but I want them to come legally, learn english so I don't have to dial 1 every time I call a business. In years gone by, immgrants went through due process, learned enough english to simulate, and followed the laws. That is not the case anymore. NOw they demand rights they don't deserve.
Mr Independent has lost my respect due to this ego trip of late, but I still like him, and he does bring to light many things about the economy, business, and political maneuvering that others overlook. For that I still consider him worthy.
CNN made a big error when they let Aaron Brown go a few years ago. CNN has truly lost their "trusted" status with the group they have now. All fluff, whining, and much ado about nothing. Guess I'll just start watching Keith Oberman from now on. He makes sense.
Sure you are not a racist buddy. I honestly believe you are not. You are just poorly informed and usurp the trash Dobbs spews. You need to think for yourself. Although this sounds harsh, I say this because of statements such as "They demand rights they don't deserve."
That is ill-informed political talking points with no real substance. Have you ever given any thought to the reasoning behind the "press two for Spanish." This is not a matter of a group of peoples refusing to adapt...but rather a continuous influx of people with a similar language, hence like a revolving door. This is not your typical one time migration many other groups have experienced....Germans, Irish, Poles, Italians, Cubans in American history. Those are real issuges to discuss, not this nonsense...."they want rights they don't deserve." And please don't trash the idea of immigration, keep in mind this Country was built by immigrants.
Go to Dubai,and you have to leave the country within a month after loosing your job or you will be jailed and your belongings confiscated.
Yes, we welcome immigrants in this country--that's what makes this country great. But do it like everyone before us had to do it., and most of my hispanic friends agree100%. That's what most of their families had to do, other than ones there when New Mexico became a state.
I've marched in Civil Rights marches since the 60's, stood up for inequalities for minorities, so don't give me that crap about Crow. Grow up. Illegal immigration is just that--illegal. Can you imagine if everyone broke the law because they didn't like it? Everyone would be in jail! We have laws for a reason, even though everyone looked the other way for cheap labor. Now California is crashing under debt from social services and schooling for it. And they do get benefits they are not entitled to unless they were here legally.
I believe he and Ted think alike, and their concern about the drop in national standards is truly heartfelt.
Even though Ted gave amazing amts of money to the UN, I believe he thought it was a mistake after he did it, and it probably was, and Lou would have told him so.
Lou talks straight and Ted admires this. They also want to keep their audience, and I believe Lou does this in spades, but it does sometimes impact on his advertisers. That is the price you pay, to keep your new better than CBS, NBC, and ABC. I believe Ted believes in news as a public service, and would like to have more of this, rather than less.
Ted Turner's 2008 autobiography, "Call Me Ted," spells this out in detail. He's a very candid man, and in my opinion, a hero for his dedication to eradicating nuclear weapons. If you're interested, his book is an honest and fascinating read. :-))