Dear Mr. Dobbs,
I for one would like to applaud your foray into this brave (and mostly) unexplored new world of journalism ... just making shit up!
The Southern Poverty Law center reports that you are spreading stories that immigrants are bringing leprosy to America, and concocting numbers to support your position. I even heard you say to Leslie Stahl "Well, I can tell you this. If we report it, it's a fact." and "Because I'm the managing editor, and that's the way we do business, We don't make up numbers, Lesley. Do we?"
Unfortunately, it seems like you pinched your numbers from a far-right nutcase named Madeleine Cosman.In addition to writing about the prevalence of leprosy, Cosman, who died in March 2006, told an anti-immigrant conference in 2005 that "most" Latino immigrant men "molest girls under 12, although some specialize in boys, and some in nuns," a variation on a speech she has given elsewhere.Madeleine Cosman's false claim that there were 7,000 cases of leprosy diagnosed in the United States from 2001 to 2004 was included in her article, "Illegal Aliens and American Medicine." More than once, "Lou Dobbs Tonight" reporter Romans repeated Cosman's statistic, saying, "Suddenly, in the past three years, America has more than 7,000 cases of leprosy."
Cosman's piece was published in the Spring 2005 issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, which represents private practice doctors. The journal is known as a right-wing periodical whose science has been the subject of harsh criticism.
Though the article notes her Ph.D., it does not say that the degree is in English and comparative literature. Cosman had no medical training other than as a medical lawyer.
In the article, Cosman provides no source for her claim of 7,000 cases of leprosy, also known as Hansen's Disease, in three years — presumably 2001 to 2004, given the article's publication date.
The claim has no basis in fact.
But please don't let that stop you from continuing to say it and defend your actions. You should probably start conferring with Dan Rather over how well his career has progrsssed using fictious sources.Keep up the demagogery, Lou.
Sincerely,
V. Publius
Please let Lou know what you think of this at lou.dobbs@turner.com
Thanks to Orcinus and Media Matters for providing some timely quotes, research and general factcheckery.
Monday, May 14, 2007
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1 comment:
Obsidian Wings has the further evolution of this story here.
This is a good summary:
"If you are a reporter, it's your job to verify your facts. This is true under any circumstances, but it's especially true when you report for a major network like CNN, and it's doubly especially true when you're making an inflammatory claim, like the claim that illegal aliens have sent our leprosy caseload through the roof.
Had CNN's supposed 'reporter' bothered to check the actual figures, she would have found that the number of new cases per year has never been anywhere near 7,000, but that the total number of people living with leprosy in the US is. She would also have discovered that that total is unlikely to have much to do with illegal immigrants."
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