LOS ANGELES -- Lou Dobbs is a newsman on a mission. Or, asdetractors would have it, he's a "raving" trade protectionist, aratings hound, or possibly suffering "some sort of intellectualmidlife crisis."
Every weeknight for more than a year "Lou Dobbs Tonight" on CNNhas insistently covered -- and condemned -- sending American jobs toother countries, a k a outsourcing or offshoring.
At 24-hour cable news networks, both time and opinion are inabundant supply. But exhaustive reporting on a single issue isunusual, as is Dobbs' strong blend of journalism and advocacy.
Unapologetic, Dobbs says he's driving a story of criticalimportance with "Exporting America," the program's catchy tag for itsseries of reports.
"I think if this trend continues, is allowed to continue, that theUnited States, without being unduly alarmist, is headed toward if nota third-world category than a second-world category as a nation,"Dobbs said in a recent interview.
Without tarring all corporate executives, Dobbs said, "There aresome who simply look at this [U.S. economy] as a convenient piggybank to loot, and the worker be damned."
His show's approach includes detailed coverage of stories such asIBM's December announcement that it was shifting thousands of skilledsoftware jobs overseas.
There are interviews with an array of lawmakers, labor leaders andothers, including Democratic presidential contender John Kerry;Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, and DavidMcCurdy, president of the Electronic Industries Alliance.
And, every night, there's an updated list of companies that haveshipped jobs abroad -- a kind of rogue's gallery that viewers areinvited to help keep current.
(CNN's parent company, Time Warner, was among the first to beincluded on the list, Dobbs says.)
Taken together, the segments add up to least several minutes andas much as 10 minutes nightly, a lifetime in television. Bycomparison, network evening newscast stories average slightly morethan two minutes, said Andrew Tyndall, whose Tyndall Report monitorsnews content.
The tone of Dobbs' reports and questioning is pointed. As hisshow's introduction puts it, "Lou Dobbs Tonight" is an hour of "news,debate and opinion."
"Senator, do you find yourself being called, because of your viewson this [issue], 'xenophobic,' 'protectionist,' because you have theaudacity to suggest that the United States, the most powerful economyand nation on earth, should have a manufacturing base?" Dobbs queriedSen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) last month.
Dorgan later termed the loss of American jobs "very alarming,"drawing this response from Dobbs:
"And also, to me, as alarming is the fact, the United StatesCongress, this administration, has taken no step to reverse thecourse that we are embarked upon."
As debate about the issue of offshoring has become a part of thepresidential election year dialogue, so has attention to Dobbs'crusade.
"I'm thrilled he's giving this sort of attention to it," saidRobert Bruno, an associate professor of labor and industrialrelations at the University of Illinois and a critic of outsourcing.
The role of politics could be more thoroughly covered, Brunosuggested, but he called Dobbs' work overall "extremely important andhelpful."
"There is a person that is asking the right questions to the rightpeople. ... This man is Lou Dobbs. He is the greatest voice for theAmerican worker," trumpets the Web site of the American WorkersCoalition, a small grassroots group.
Other observers shake their heads over what they see as a bafflingtransformation.
One newspaper opinion piece made him the poster child for "bizpundits who hate business," lamenting what it deemed as his shiftfrom free-market advocate to "raving" protectionist and mulling thepossibility of a midlife crisis.
James K. Glassman, a resident fellow at the conservative AmericanEnterprise Institute, has dueled on air with Dobbs over offshoring.Glassman said he found the TV host combative in his questioning --and wrong in his analysis.
"What Lou Dobbs has been doing night after night is badeconomics," Glassman said. "His very selective list of evildoers areamong America's most innovative and dynamic companies that havecontributed millions and millions of jobs to the U.S. economy.
"It's foolish and typical of what he's doing, taking a narrow andmyopic view of this issue," he said, adding that Dobbs has moved froma pro-business stance to "table-thumping" protectionism.
Glassman devotes part of his Web site to countering Dobbs.
The TV journalist shrugs off the brickbats, including implicationshe may be more interested in audience share than fiscal policy.
"A drive to raise ratings that ignores Scott Peterson, Kobe Bryantand Michael Jackson and focuses on trade and outsourcing wouldprobably leave most programmers laughing hysterically," Dobbs said.
CNN's competition with Fox News Channel isn't a factor, he said.Fox has surged ahead with its sharp-tongued hosts, but Dobbs firmlydenies any marching orders to ramp up the conflict.
Dobbs' numbers are increasing, however. The program is averaging523,000 viewers, up 7 percent compared to last year.
Characterizations of his economic stance are way off base, assertsDobbs, who describes himself as a lifelong Republican who remainsmoderate in his views.
"I think every American should be offended by anyone ... who wouldsuggest there are only two choices in trade policy, protectionism orfree trade," Dobbs said. "There are a host of choices between thosepolar extremes. The policy I favor is balanced trade, which is thepolicy pursued by all of our principal trading partners."
His passion was stoked by the refusal of several chief executiveofficers to acknowledge "there was any negative impact" fromoffshoring jobs, he said.
Whether his message is getting through to business owners or undertheir skin, Dobbs maintains that viewers are hearing it -- andappreciate it.
"People are literally saying, 'Thank you for talking about anissue that we feel is important,' " Dobbs said. "Our viewers fullyunderstand this transcends party lines and partisan politics. Thereis an absolute national value in truth on these issues, and we can'tignore them."
AP
