Ellington

CNN's Lou Dobbs continues to dig himself into the xenophobic ground, and challenge FOX's Bill O'Reilly as the most unreliable personality on television. According to a FAIR media analysis, he claimed as "fact" a baseless assertion that half of the Culinary Workers Union "are illegal aliens"; CNN's media personality Candy Crowley did not challenge him:

On the January 16 edition of CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight, host Lou Dobbs noted that that the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, based in Nevada, "is encouraging its members to caucus on behalf of Senator [Barack] Obama [D-IL]" and then claimed: "n point of fact, as many as half of the union's members are illegal aliens" [emphasis added]. Near the end of the segment, Dobbs referred to the "Culinary Workers Union, with just about half of its membership assumed to be illegal aliens" [emphasis added]. CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley, appearing on-air from Las Vegas, did not challenge either assertion. On-screen text during the segment read: "Many of Culinary Workers in Nevada are Illegal Aliens" and "Fears Illegal Aliens Could Influence Outcome of Vote."

Dobbs did not provide any support to back up his assertion regarding the makeup of the Culinary Workers Union. On March 23, 2007, the Associated Press reported that, according to the Union's then-political director, "about half" of the union's members are "immigrants"...

Previous Comments

ID

116529

Comment

What a disgrace to journalism. This is typical of the kind of coded language that Dobbs allows to slip through the cracks on his show, and does great harm to our national consciousness. Suddenly "immigrant" becomes "illegal immigrant," and "Spanish-speaking" is a near substitute for the same.

Author

msaldana

Date

2008-01-22T21:07:46-06:00

ID

116530

Comment

Dobbs oughta go work for the Fox News Channel. He'd fit right in perfectly.

Author

golden eagle

Date

2008-01-22T21:11:04-06:00

ID

116531

Comment

The Southern Poverty Law Center has been on Dobbs as well: - Open Letter to CNN - Broken Record - Errors and Extremist Sources on Lou Dobbs Tonight

Author

Tom Head

Date

2008-01-24T01:41:08-06:00