Did Lou Dobbs Have His Howard Beale Moment?
As published on Parcbench on 20 November 2009
In 1976, the movie Network was released about an anchorman (no, not Ron Burgundy) who was being dropped because his ratings were sliding into the toilet. The late Peter Finch played Howard Beale who is fired by the fictional UBS network.
That day, Mr. Beale starts his broadcast, like all the others before, only this time, he tells his audience that he was fired and declares he is going to kill himself on live TV. Talk about a reality news program!
After his announcement, Beale’s ratings start to surge. On a broadcast days later, thoroughly fed up with the state of the nation, politics and the economy, he speaks that famous line “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”
Sensing an opportunity, producer Diana Christensen, played by Faye Dunaway, is able to remove Beale from the news division and create an entertainment show around Beale, the “Mad Prophet of the Airwaves”. The show is totally mainstream, ala Wayne’s World.
With his newfound ratings based on his daily rants, Mr. Beale then sets his sights on a Saudi company called Communications Corporation of America, which desires to merge with UBS. Beale passionately urges his viewers to contact the White House to demand the merger be stopped.
Howard Beale had finally crossed the line.
In a classic scene in an empty boardroom, Beale sits across the desk from chairman Arthur Jensen (Ned Beatty) where he gets schooled on mergers. Jensen bellows “…you have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and you will atone!” As not to be a spoiler, Beale gets the message, and the show is never the same.
33 years later, has life imitated art?
On Wednesday night. Lou Dobbs came out and abruptly ‘retired’ after a 29 year run at CNN. He said he needed to step away to be more effective (was he watching Sarah Palin’s resignation this past July?).
Was it because of his position of #5 in the ratings? Was it because of his immigration stance? The shooting at his suburban home? His position on the Birther movement?
Maybe, Dobbs finally had enough.
He said he had a meeting with Jonathan Klein, president of CNN, and Klein agreed to release Dobbs from his contract immediately. Did Dobbs become too much of a liability to CNN?
You be the judge.
Klein stated that “Lou has now decided to carry the banner of advocacy journalism elsewhere.” For those of us who watch and analyze the media every day, the translation was ‘Lou was not towing the company line’.
One thing is for certain: unlike the demise of Dan Rather, Dobbs didn’t insist that phony documents were indeed true. He was a journalist who decided to follow a story until it reached a legitimate end.
And unlike the demise of Howard Beale, Lou Dobbs Tonight was not aired before a live studio audience.
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New Jersey boy Michael Fidanza is the host of The Armchair Energist Show on RFC Radio and can be heard at 11am-noon ET. His website is www.ArmchairEnergist.com
