The 2nd N in CNN

Andrew Friedman

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.

Andrew Friedman: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 7:39 AM, Apr 06, 2006 in Immigration
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Comments

Andrew- Lou Dobbs does suck.
But there's one thing he says that you dismiss that I think is a problem. And its the very thing that has working class Americans up at night in fear.

Immigrants accepting low wages DOES drag down everyone else. DMI's immigration paper actually talks about this. If employers can hire people that they can threaten to deport at will if those people try to organize a union (which under McCain/Kennedy, employers could still do) than employers are going to want to continue to hire those vulnerable people. Americans will be forced to settle for worse treatment in the workplace, the same bad treatment that vulnerable immigrants get, if they want to compete in the job market. It is already happening.

This isn't the fault of the immigrants, it�s the fault of the government because the Dept. of Labor refuses to protect workers rights.

A guest worker program would cause a sharecropper society:

There would be an employer class
and there would be a guest worker class.
A class of workers whose ability to remain in the country was dependent on their employers. Sounds like indentured servitude to me.

Employers would rather hire indentured servants then pay the wages that all people deserve and that citizens would insist on. So citizens would have to settle for less.

Again, this is not the fault of the immigrants. Its the fault of a messed-up immigration system that McCain/Kennedy won't fix. It's the fault of employers who put profits ahead of people. It's the fault of Americans for not defending their workplace protections and demanding that those protections be extended to undocumented workers.

But saying that the system as it currently is, and as it would be under ANY of the pending legislation is ok for the middle class is just not true. American's are correct to be frightened. They are wrong to blame the immigrants. Blame the bosses instead.

I agree. Labor law enforcement is crucial, and guest worker programs are dangerous for workers.

I just found Lou's fear-mongering exaggerated and disengenuous.

Lou Dobbs always amkes it very clear that he is against ILLEGAL immigration. What's wrong with that. If anyone can walk across a border, why not terrorists. The Mexicans coming in don't know who is walking beside them. Their borders are wide open as well. Ask the middle class if they're doing so good. Ed Brown

Ed-
Everyone on this blog has made it perfectly clear that they know the middle class isn't doing so good and that they are hurting. That's the whole focus of DMI's immigration paper. This whole organziation is always focusing on The Middle Class Squeeze.

But blaming undocumented immigrants isn't the answer.
Read DMI's paper.
http://www.drummajorinstitute.org/library/report.php?ID=21