CNN calls itself "the most trusted name in news" - but that slogan is open to question each evening when its controversial host Lou Dobbs takes to the air with outlandish claims about illegal immigration.
Dobbs fronts an hour-long programme, Lou Dobbs Tonight, which concentrates on Dobbs' pet topics, including the US trade deficit and what he describes as "the war on the middle class". But most controversial is Dobbs' fixation with illegal immigration - the subject of a commentary in the New York Times which accuses Dobbs of having "a somewhat flexible relationship with the truth" - a polite way of calling him a liar.
In 2005, Dobbs introduced a segment that claimed cases of leprosy in the US had surged to 7,000 in the previous three years with the words: "The invasion of illegal aliens is threatening the health of many Americans." The number was challenged by the Southern Poverty Law Centre - government figures show that there were in fact only 398 cases reported in that time - and on a recent edition of the CBS news show 60 Minutes. When asked about the 7,000 figure, Dobbs told CBS: "If we reported it, it's a fact."
The SPLC called on CNN to make a correction, so far without reply. Dobbs invited two officials from the centre to debate the matter - but refused to accept that any mistake had been made (the transcript is here).
The New York Times piece and the SPLC list a number of Dobbs' other misleading or inaccurate items - such as the claim that a "North American union" between Mexico, the US and Canada is being planned - as well as a list of some of Dobbs' more unsavoury guests, including the anti-immigration leader who claims to have seen Chinese army units secretly moving along the US-Mexico border.
David Leonhardt, the New York Times writer, concludes: "The problem with Mr Dobbs is that he mixes opinion and untruth. He is the heir to the nativist tradition that has long used fiction and conspiracy theories as a weapon against the Irish, the Italians, the Chinese, the Jews and, now, the Mexicans."
UPDATE:
Lou, in a defensive and rambling reply to the New York Times article on tonight's show, finally apologises for making a mistake - albeit by blaming a reporter for having lost a notebook - and now describes the 7,000 cases of leprosy in three years figure as "an unscripted ad-lib".
This however is in marked contrast to Lou's recent remarks on the subject, following the CBS 60 Minutes episode, when he said: "I stand 100% behind this report" - as we can see on this
