FILE - In this 2005 file photo by CNN, news anchor Lou Dobbs sits on the set of his show, "Lou Dobs Tonight," in New York (AP Photo/CNN, Mark Hill, File)
For years, Geraldo Rivera was one of America’s admired and respected TV talk show hosts, for The Geraldo Rivera Show.
However, during the O.J. Simpson Trial, Geraldo went ballistic, he turned the obsessed Geraldo, fixated with the O.J. Simpson case.
And then in November 2001, Rivera joined The Fox New Channel, as a war reporter, reporting from Afghanistan. Since then, the once clean image and respected TV show host, Geraldo, has become one of the slums in TV news reporting.
That’s what Lou Dobbs has become in his later years at CNN, just like the current Geraldo Rivera. In the early years, I used to admire Dobbs. He was the guy I would always look forward to watching on TV business news. Especially when he launched his then CNN signature business news magazine, CNN Moneyline with Lou Dobbs.
Those were the good old days for Lou Dobbs. And that was before he turned the now sharp visible and loud mouth, independent and anti-immigration Lou Dobbs.
He did a brief hiatus stunt from CNN to found Space.com, but when he returned to CNN to host The Lou Dobbs Tonight, he was different. I always wonder and keep asking myself about whatever happened to Lou Dobbs while he was at Space.com.
Since his return from Space.com, he’s become the loud anti-immigration and nearly anything good about the U.S. government, and I had since stopped watching his show, and probably so as most other Americans. That was evidenced by the July TV Ratings, which ranked CNN to the bottom of the ranking in the evening news, behind all other major news networks such as MSNBC, HLN, and even the Fox News Channel. Also, check out a recent TV news ranking article at Yahoo! News.
The Lou Dobb Tonight came on at 7:00pm EST, which is the time for most people settling in from work. And sitting there trying to catch up on what’s the latest news, and then turn to CNN and hear all that Lou Dobbs’ never-ending bickering about immigrants, most people would change the channel.
For Lou Dobbs to resign from CNN (read more at CNN), this is the best thing that has recently happened to CNN. I just hope they place a better and more objective news program at Lou Dobbs’ spot.
I however feel bad about what has recently happened to his wife; the shooting incident near his house. That shooting was uncalled for. In America, we agree to disagree, no matter what one says, it doesn’t call for any gun shooting.
We all have the rights to say whatever we want, well, as long as it’s believed to be fair and balanced, and Lou Dobbs has the same right to say whatever he wants, even if I don’t agree with him, but that doesn’t warrant anyone to shoot at him, to hurt him and his family.
Simon Kapenda 