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Editorial: Dobbs a creature of era

His opinionated approach no longer fit in at CNN.

Last update: November 14, 2009 - 9:33 PM

Whether he hangs his hat at Fox News or throws it in the political ring, speculation is rampant about Lou Dobbs' future after his surprise on-air announcement that he's leaving CNN. But his past is just as intriguing, because it mirrors the medium he helped come of age.

Present at the creation of CNN, he joined the swashbuckling Ted Turner, the America's Cup yachtsmen turned helmsman of not only the network but a new genre. Like the early days of CNN itself, Dobbs played it straight, just trying to be taken seriously at what cultural critics then drubbed the "Chicken Noodle Network."

But as CNN's influence grew along with the great economic expansion of the 1980s, so did Dobbs', especially as he occasionally opined on business and politics. If not of Wall Street, he spoke for it.

Soon, as with so many, Dobbs' political, economic and geographical orientation turned toward Silicon Valley, when it also became a metaphorical money center along with Wall Street. He left the still maturing medium of cable for an even newer media form -- cyberspace -- and space.com, until the astronaut site fell to earth along with the Internet bubble economy.

Returning to CNN, he once again alternately changed, and changed with, the increasingly competitive cable news landscape, moving more decisively toward subjective, opinionated journalism and further away from the objective model he had already begun to buck.

Focusing beyond Silicon Valley and Wall Street, Main Street became his next cause, as he leveraged his popularity to pick populist fights, with recurring reporting on "Exporting America," "War on the Middle Class" and "Broken Borders."

It was the latter of these concerns that defined Dobbs in recent years. His intense interest, if not obsession, over citizenship -- from illegal immigrants from Mexico to the president of the United States -- made him a lightning rod even within CNN, but also with many viewers.

Indeed, CNN distanced itself from Dobbs' dalliance with the "Birther" movement, reflecting the news network's need to differentiate itself from the host-driven political polarity of Fox News and MSNBC. Dobbs' on-air scolds (which often became screeds) were a "hot" style that didn't jive with the "cooler heads" model CNN is marketing. As if to punctuate the point, CNN quickly named John King, who would have fit in with Dobbs during the early CNN days, as his replacement.

King and CNN will have their work cut out for them as they continue to try to go back to the future of a more objective journalism model. Today's model isn't working. CNN is No. 4 in the ratings race behind Fox, MSNBC and even cable cousin HLN (formerly Headline News).

So maybe Dobbs, who was once considered a market sage before rage became a more appropriate appellation, had it right. Because cable news, as he well understood as a business journalist, is, after all, a business.

As with every business, there are brands. In the end, Dobbs' brand didn't mesh with CNN's. But it did mesh with the times.

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