When I watch CNN (as there is often no viable alternative for the
consumption of live news), I do not gain a sense of trust but I am
often reminded of the genteel culture of the old south. Specifically,
when I watch Lou Dobbs, that portly pundit of presumed populism, I
frequently find myself thinking: “There is something not right about
that man.”
I do not mean to imply that Mr. Dobbs is not
completely white; his complexion resembles the White Sands of the New
Mexico desert. I am not alone in wondering, however, if his intense
views on immigration are born of latent racism.
As he
produces a daily drone of clichés and homely aphorisms, too frequently
pointing out that many Mexican Americans support his views, it is a
wonder he does not yield to the classic qualifier of old south racism:
“Some of my best friends are…”
Frankly, I have no interest in
whether Dobbs is a closet racist. Just as it does not matter whether or
not the neocons intended genocide in Iraq or war without end, it does
not matter what dark and poisonous seed resides in the heart of Lou
Dobbs.
The fact is: Dobbs espouses views that play to basest
nature of humanity and divides the body politic along racial lines. He
vilifies millions of our fellow beings on the grounds that they have
honored the laws of family first and economic survival over and above
the rules and regulations of the immigration service. Dobbs neglects
the stone cold reality that illegal immigrants remain illegal so that
corporations can exploit them with slave wages free of health,
retirement or social responsibility.
He neglects the reality
that if corporations were compelled to pay immigrants fair wages and
benefits, they would not hesitate to accelerate the processes of
automation, union busting and job exportation rather than faithfully
comply.
Dobbsian economics consistently downplays the reality
that “free trade” policies and Supreme Court protected rights of
corporations (over the rights of individuals) are the heart and core of
the problem while everything else is just naming scapegoats,
distraction and political posturing.
Lou Dobbs is the perfect
poster boy for CNN for just as CNN is allowed to carry the mantle of
objective journalism, Dobbs is allowed to wear the mask of populism --
a champion of the middle class (on wonders why the poor are excluded
from his empathy).
In reality, CNN is a corporate monolith
financed by a consortium of international conglomerates and Dobbs
represents the middle class like Forbes represents the poor. The truth
is a much harder mistress than either CNN or Dobbs will allow.
It
is in fact inconceivable that “the most trusted name in news” would
hold the track record of CNN over the past six years. With its steady
parade of neocons warmongers, administration apologists, cheerleaders
and retired military personnel, CNN did more to lay the groundwork for
and promote the cause of war than any other news source.
CNN
gave legitimacy to the prostitution of imbedded “journalism.” CNN fell
silent when their fellow journalists at Al Jazeera were bombed and
attacked first in Kabul and then in Baghdad. CNN honored the military
propaganda code by not showing flag draped coffins. The military likes
a stacked deck and CNN was all too eager to comply, injecting a false
sense of duty and patriotism into a new generation of ill-informed
volunteers for war.
To CNN, Colin Powell’s flagrantly
fictional presentation at the United Nations was American diplomacy’s
finest hour and the largest international antiwar protests in recorded
history were less deserving of media coverage than a runaway bride or
the family tragedy of Terri Schiavo.
Much has been said
concerning the jaundiced “journalism” of Rupert Murdoch and Fox News
but CNN is infinitely more damaging because it carries the weight of
perceived objectivity. No one who clings to the slightest thread of
credibility would dare site Fox as a news source yet CNN retains a
legitimacy it has not earned.
Now, as Murdoch prepares to
expand his agenda-driven media empire with the purchase of the Wall
Street Journal, it is time to set aside the usual solution to media
critiques and get serious. Simply put, we cannot just turn it off
because there are no viable alternatives.
While it is
important for each of us as individuals to filter what passes for the
news with a certain knowledge of its corporate bent, the threat is far
too dangerous for individual solutions. Moreover, those of us who wish
to engage the public in dialogue need to monitor the corporate message,
its evolution and manner of deliverance and CNN is the primetime
conveyor of that message. We cannot turn it off and remain informed.
Still,
when the fourth pillar of democracy fails to serve its primary
democratic function, we must seek remedy. The solutions are not
individual but societal and the mechanism of change can only be
governmental.
If we have learned nothing else in recent
years, we ought to have learned this: Free markets have no interest in
democracy. Free markets are driven only by profits and, because common
people divert profits from corporate coffers, they have every reason to
thwart the people’s interests. In short, there is a role for government
intervention and nowhere is there a more compelling need than in the
area of media where decades of deregulation have created a monster that
consumes diversity and defines the corporate line.
Writings 
When a gentleman of the old south wishes to draw attention to the racial makeup of a given individual, he rarely makes direct reference. Rather, in keeping with his cultural upbringing of polite obfuscation, he is inclined to say: “There is something not quite right about that man.” 
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