CNN exec concedes Dobbs is "opinionated" -- but that's the least of his journalistic faults
* On July 11, 2008, Dobbs falsely asserted that in his July 8 remarks, then-Sen. Obama was "out telling people to have their children not learn languages -- foreign languages, but specifically, while discussing the issue of illegal immigration, tells them they've got to learn Spanish." In fact, Obama was responding to a question about education and bilingualism, not "illegal immigration," and while Obama did reference "immigrants," at no point in his July 8 remarks did he mention "illegal immigration."
* On March 14, 2008, Dobbs falsely claimed that "Senators Obama and [Hillary] Clinton are making it very clear where they stand: not for border security, for open borders, and for amnesty." Dobbs' assertion followed false claims made in a report by CNN correspondent Louise Schiavone about Obama's and Clinton's records on immigration.
* On January 16, 2008, Dobbs noted that that the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, based in Nevada, "is encouraging its members to caucus on behalf of Senator Obama" and then baselessly claimed: "[I]n point of fact, as many as half of the union's members are illegal aliens" [emphasis added].
* On April 12, 2006, Dobbs uncritically reported Republican leaders' false suggestion that Democrats were to blame for a plan to make illegal presence in the United States a felony.
* On March 10, Dobbs claimed that the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce "is effectively an organization that is interested in the export of American capital and production to Mexico, and Mexico's export of drugs and illegal aliens to the United States." On March 17, Dobbs apologized for the smear, saying that he "made a mistake." Dobbs also said: "I, of course, do not believe that the chamber supports or condones either drug or human trafficking."
Global warming misinformation
Dobbs also has a history of misinforming on global warming. Despite overwhelming evidence of human-caused global warming and warnings by experts that short-term weather conditions are not evidence for or against its existence, Dobbs said during the introduction of his December 18, 2008, show: "And tonight, unusual winter storms are dumping snow in unusual places across Western states, and a huge snowstorm is headed toward the Northeast. This is global warming?" During his segment on the issue, Dobbs hosted Heartland Institute senior fellow and science director Jay Lehr without disclosing that Heartland receives funding from the energy industry and without challenging Lehr's assertions that "[t]he last 10 years have been quite cool" and that "the sun" -- rather than humans -- is responsible for recent climate change. According to NASA, "2008 is the ninth warmest year in the period of instrumental measurements, which extends back to 1880. ... The ten warmest years all occur within the 12-year period 1997-2008." (NASA states that it "can only conclude with confidence that 2008 was somewhere within the range from 7th to 10th warmest year in the record.")
On the January 5 edition of Lou Dobbs Tonight, Dobbs again questioned the impact of humans on global warming and suggested that solar activity may be far more responsible for global warming than humans, stating, "[M]any scientists are saying, 'My gosh, compared to what our sun can do, man has minuscule influence.' " In making these assertions, Dobbs ignored the conclusion by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that "it is extremely likely [greater than 95 percent chance] that humans have exerted a substantial warming influence on climate" and its estimate of "radiative forcing" caused by humans "is likely [>66% chance] to be at least five times greater than that due to solar irradiance changes." According to the IPCC, "The observed widespread warming of the atmosphere and ocean, together with ice mass loss, support the conclusion that it is extremely unlikely [<5%>90% chance] that it is not due to known natural causes alone. During this period, the sum of solar and volcanic forcings would likely have produced cooling, not warming."
