Dobbs Says CNN Split was Amicable

Lou Dobbs says he doesn't feel like he was pushed out of CNN, the news organization where he worked for all but two years of its existence until last Wednesday.

"Not at all," he said in a weekend interview. "I don't know if people will believe it, but we had a very amicable parting on the best of terms. I spent 29 years there building that company, and I wish everyone there nothing but the best, and they have reciprocated with me."

He announced his resignation on "Lou Dobbs Tonight," finished the newscast and walked out of CNN.

It's hard to know whether the abruptness or the lack of rancor surrounding the exit was more noteworthy. Dobbs' outspokenness had made him a political target — so much so that there were parties celebrating the departure over the weekend — and an uncomfortable contradiction to what CNN says it wants to be.

Dobbs said he plans to take time deciding what he wants to do, beyond his daily radio show. He promised to reach out to groups who criticized him, most prominently because he advocated stern measures to halt illegal immigration. A petition campaign seeking his ouster took root in recent months after Dobbs gave attention on his show to questions about President Barack Obama's place of birth.

Dobbs spoke his mind freely on his radio show, unrelated to CNN, but tried at management's request for the past several months to do a straight television newscast. He and CNN President Jon Klein spoke frequently about the direction of the show.

Although the decision to leave was characterized as mutual, Dobbs said he approached Klein to say it wasn't working for him. There was no "eureka" moment, Dobbs said.

"What they do is their business and I tried to accommodate them as best I could, but I've said for many years now that neutrality is not part of my being," he said. "I have strong views about a lot of issues that are important to the country and I think are important to my audience."

CNN has tried to promote an unbiased approach to establish a middle ground between opinionated hosts on Fox News Channel and MSNBC. Dobbs was quickly replaced by John King, the straightforward political reporter who used to work for The Associated Press.

Dobbs said he will take weeks — perhaps months — to sift through ideas before deciding his next step.

The future could include journalism. He said his separation agreement didn't have a non-compete clause, something TV news organizations frequently use to keep people off the air for a while. Dobbs denied reports that he had met with Fox News chief Roger Ailes or had talked to anyone at Fox about a job. NYPOST Story

Covering Mexico's cartel wars puts journalists in the line of fire

This photograph, taken in Cuidad Juarez on October 20, records the 2,000th dead in Mexico's cartel drug wars

By Mayra Cuevas-Nazario, CNN

(CNN) -- Lucio Soria is a recorder of the dead in Ciudad Juarez's drug cartel war.

"El Sorias," as he is affectionately called by his colleagues, is a photojournalist for the Mexican city's two main daily newspapers, El Diario and El PM. For the last 10 years, his job has been to photograph the bodies and crime scenes left behind after cartel hit men completed their work.

"I see the photos of the dead as art, not as dead people. I feel sad for the families, they cry and sometimes I cry too," Soria told CNN in a recent telephone interview.

"My record is 16 dead in one shift."

A regular shift goes from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., or later if there are any last-minute bodies. The day is spent listening to police scanners and waiting for the code that will send Soria and a reporter rushing through the city's congested streets to a new crime scene.

My record is 16 dead in one shift.

"Z-59 is the code for execution and Z-23 is the code for a dead person," he said.

Soria knows that arriving at a crime scene too soon could mean a surprise encounter with the killers -- one that could cost him his life.

He is part of a group of journalists operating in one of the world's most dangerous cities. Every day the passion for their profession competes with the fear of death.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 26 journalists have been killed since 2005 in Mexico -- most of them while covering the crime or corruption beats. By comparison, 10 journalists were killed in the same time period while covering the war in Afghanistan.

"There are challenges to the fulfillment of our mission, challenges we have never faced before," said Rocio Gallegos, the editor of El Diario, the city's main news publication, with a circulation of 55,000.

"Any journalist in Ciudad Juarez is at risk," she said.

For the paper's staffers, death hit home last year with the murder of veteran crime reporter Armando "El Cholo" Rodriguez.

On November 13, 2008, unidentified gunmen shot and killed Rodriguez, 40, while he was parked in front of his house with his 8-year-old daughter in the car; she was not harmed.

Rodriguez had been receiving threats since February, Gallegos said.

One year later, no one ha....Read story at CNN

News Today

Mediabistro.com 's Revolving Door newsletter reports that...

Potential buyers make their bids on the Boston Globe

Two local groups -- one led by former Globe executive Stephen E. Taylor and the other featuring the Boston Celtics co-owners at the helm -- submitted preliminary bids for the newspaper to meet The New York Times Co.'s Thursday deadline. Mort Zuckerman, publisher of the New York Daily News, may also have entered a proposal. Assuming ownership of the Globe for a dollar would mean the winning bidder actually takes on almost $100 million in debt...

At The Associated Press, about 100 staffers take a buyout...

Bill Nagel joins The Los Angeles Times as executive vice president of business services, and the newspaper will takes over home delivery of the Orange County Register. The move will save the latter paper seven-figures a year in payroll and warehousing costs...

Roni Selig joins CNN's medical team, while ABC News hires Dr. Richard Besser as senior health and medical editor and promotes Tim Johnson to chief medical editor...

NBC's John Yang jumps from Washington, D.C. to Chicago... Jenna Briand moves from AOL City Guide to NBC Local Media, where she'll be editorial director, digital...

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is considering taking a radio syndication gig. Clear Channel, however, has already passed. If Palin does find work in radio, she would be following in the footsteps of Mike Huckabee, a potential 2012 presidential candidate who took to the airwaves after leaving the governorship of Arkansas...

AOL continues its editorial power grab, snagging David Corn from Congressional Quarterly for its PoliticsDaily.com portal and bringing former BusinessWeek.com technology editor Alex Salkever on as a senior writer at DailyFinance.com...

Two ex-New York Times ad executives launch a marketing and advertising sales rep company... Keith Hensel and Peter Leeds join Garbardine as design director and creative director, respectively...

CNN is letting YOU grade President Barack Obama.

Watch The CNN National Report Card: First 100 Days on Wednesday, April 29 (8pm ET) and let your voice be heard. Led by anchors Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, John King and Soledad O’Brien, the show will gauge the public’s opinion on how President Obama and other elected officials have handled their first 100 days in office, as well as how the country is progressing on significant issues.

Grade The President's First 100 Days on CNN this Wednesday
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Throughout the evening, CNN will open up voting on a variety of important topics letting real viewers voice their real thoughts and criticisms. Viewers will be able to share their opinion on CNN.com, with the results appearing immediately online and on television. In addition to real-time grading on CNN.com, the “First 100 Days” special report will allow users to watch video and weigh in on stories about the Obama administration in its first 100 days at www.CNN.com/First100Days. The special report will feature an issues tracker that examines action on topics such as the economy and health care, a photo gallery from the first 100 days and a quiz, testing readers' knowledge of 100-day events.

Tune into The CNN National Report Card: First 100 Days on Wednesday, April 29th (8pm ET) on CNN. Let your voice be heard.

"The Black Urban Times believes that President Obama first 100 days in office have been refreshing and historic. The first 100 days of this President can be compared to the days of FDR. Never before has a President done so much in so little time. I look forward to what the next 8 years will bring with the Obama Administration."-Abba Onyeani-Ceo/Theblackurbantimes.com

14 horses die just before polo match

Fourteen thoroughbred horses dropped dead in a mysterious scene Sunday before a polo match near West Palm Beach, Florida, officials said.

State and local veterinary teams are trying to figure out what happened at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Wellington, Florida, as team Lechuza Caracas prepared to compete in a U.S. Open match.
Two horses initially collapsed, and as vets and team officials scrambled to revive them, five others became dizzy, said Tim O'Connor, spokesman for the polo club.
"A total of seven died on our property," O'Connor told CNN. Seven other horses died en route to a Wellington horse farm and a veterinary hospital.
The cause of the deaths has not been determined, and necropsies and blood tests were underway, he said.
O'Connor said each team brings between 40 to 60 horses for matches, and they are continuously switched out throughout a match to keep the horses from overexerting themselves.
A meeting will be held to determine whether Lechuza Caracas will compete at a later date, he said.
"Everybody is kind of in shock and trying to figure out what happened," he said. "Nobody can recall an incident in which this many horses have died at once."

Former CNN talk show host Tom Braden dies at 92

By Tom Watkins CNN
Tom Braden, the creator and co-host of CNN's "Crossfire," which pioneered the talk-show format that pitted a conservative against a liberal, died Friday at age 92.

Daughter Susan Braden said he died of natural causes at his home in Denver, Colorado.
In 1982, Braden took "Crossfire" to CNN from a local station in Washington and served as the program's host "from the left" until 1989.
"Many people believe that Tom created the genre of political talk shows and debate programs that has now been copied and copied and copied," said Sam Feist, CNN's political director and senior executive producer of political programming. "He was a giant of a man and one of the most decent human beings you'd ever want to meet. CNN was a better place because Tom Braden worked here."
Born in Greene, Iowa, Braden graduated from Dartmouth in the spring of 1940, when the Germans overran France. He volunteered to join the British army, said his good friend and conservative sparring partner, Pat Buchanan.
After fighting in the African desert, Braden joined the U.S. Office of Strategic Services when the United States joined the fight, then joined the CIA, Buchanan said.
Braden tried his hand at politics, running for lieutenant governor of California in 1966, when he lost in a Democratic primary.
He and Bobby Kennedy "were real buddies," Buchanan said.
Braden decided to become a journalist at the suggestion of the poet Robert Frost, Susan Braden said.
In 1975, he wrote the best-selling book, "Eight is Enough," about his eight children, which was made into a television sitcom that starred a crusty political columnist named Tom Bradford.
In 1977, he was co-hosting a Washington radio show called "Confrontation," a format that caught on quickly, Buchanan said.
"We took over afternoon drive," the former GOP presidential candidate said. "Braden and I would interrogate people, and we'd go at it 'til all hours."
Their show caught the attention of a local television station and then caught the attention of CNN's first president, Reese Schonfeld, who hired them to appear late at night on the fledgling cable channel, Buchanan said.
"We'd go out and have dinner and a few drinks and come back at 10 or 10:30 and start preparing for the 11:30 show," Buchanan said. "We'd have to yell to people to shut up in the newsroom."
Braden played the establishment liberal -- a Rockefeller, Kennedy man, and Buchanan played the Goldwater, Nixon man.
"He was a cantankerous character," Buchanan said. "He really didn't like conservatives, especially the new breed. It made for great chemistry and opposition."
But the dislike didn't get personal. "He would laugh at something that was at his expense if it was a good line. That's what you need in the show. An appreciation if the other guy scores a good point."
Once, they both found themselves interviewing a man representing the Ku Klux Klan. "He had on his hat and everything and he was sitting there with his arms folded," said Buchanan, who introduced the guest to the audience.
"So Tom Braden starts off and says, 'What the hell are you doing in this getup?'
"The guy said, 'Your producer told me to wear it.' It was ratings month. It was like that in the early days. It was wild, crazy stuff. But the ratings were tremendous."
So good that, after six months, the duo's show was moved up to 7:30 p.m., a half-hour after they finished their three-hour radio show, he said.
"We'd get in our cars, race to CNN, put powder on our faces, sit in the chair and start going after somebody," he said.
Braden stuck to his guns, Buchanan said, citing an interview with Cal Thomas, the columnist. "Cal accused him of writing, I think, for a pornographic magazine, and Braden hadn't written for them, but had been interviewed by them.
"Braden says, 'You're going to apologize to me or I'm walking off the show.' And Cal didn't apologize, and Braden walked off his own show. It was a very funny moment.
"I immediately said, 'We're going to have to go to break here.' "
After the break, Braden returned. "Fortunately, it was taped," Buchanan said.
"It was the most important part of his life," Susan Braden said of her father's years at CNN. "It was his life, it was what he did. He was a part of something, the beginning of something."
She said that, despite their philosophical differences, "he and Pat Buchanan actually liked each other."
Braden left the show in 1989. "I think he left because CNN thought it was time for a change and to bring in a newer, younger adversary," Buchanan said. "The truth is, I opposed Tom's leaving at the time."
Funeral arrangements had not been made Friday, but Braden is to be buried in Dubuque, Iowa, Susan Braden said

Live Developing Story on CNN: GM New CEO Speaks

General Motors’ new CEO Fritz Henderson holds briefing.

Watch it here; http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream3&iref=lb100

Video: FedEx Plane crashes in Toyko..WTF!!! IS GOING ON WITH PLANES THESE DAYS!!

Twitter accounts of Obama, Britney Spears hacked

(CNN) -- The Twitter accounts of President-elect Barack Obama, CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, Britney Spears, Fox News and 29 others were hacked Monday according to the microblog site, leading to false and inappropriate messages being posted on their accounts. First Fox News Twitter followers read a false message about Bill O'Reilly's sexuality Monday morning after hackers launched several attacks.
Then came the attack on pop princess Britney Spears private parts.
CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, who uses Twitter on his TV show to interact with the audience, also fell victim to the scam, when a hacker posted about drugs on his account.
Twitter is a social-networking blog site that allows users to send status updates, or "tweets," from cell phones, instant messaging services and Facebook in less than 140 characters.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote on the site's blog that the accounts were compromised after a hacker accessed tools the support team uses when a Twitter user can't remember or wants to reset their login info.
"We considered this a very serious breach of security and immediately took the support tools offline," Stone said in the blog post. "We'll put them back only when they're safe and secure."
Jennifer Dargan, Director of Public Relations for CNN confirmed Sanchez's account was compromised.
"As a result, some Twitter users may have received offensive messages attributed to Rick when the breach occurred," she said. "This is annoying, though such breaches are not uncommon when using social networking sites."
"Rick has notified Twitter of his account's breach and taken some basic steps to secure his account's access. Rick enjoys communicating with viewers via Twitter and he and many others at CNN find social networking a valuable tool in their shows. Rick will continue to use Twitter -- along with MySpace and Facebook -- to engage CNN's audience." The attacks came after Twitter suffered a vicious phishing scam over the weekend, during which everyday Twitter users may have been tricked into logging on to a page masquerading as the Twitter front page, according to the site.

Study: Sex, Violence Amongst Teen Talk on MySpace

By Elizabeth Landau
(CNN) -A new study finds that 54 percent of teens talk about behaviors such as sex, alcohol use, and violence on the social networking giant MySpace -- presenting potential risks even if all they're doing is talking, researchers said Monday. The study looked at MySpace profiles of 500 people who identified themselves as 18-year-old males and females in the United States. References to risky behaviors included both words and photos, the authors said.
Not all teens who write about risky behaviors in their profiles actually engage in them in real life, said Dr. Megan Moreno of the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, one of the authors of the study, which appears in the January issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.
They may instead talk about sex, substance use, or violence because they are contemplating doing those things, or because they want to brag without actually doing what they say, Moreno said.
Even if teens have not actually engaged in risky behaviors but merely brag about them online, this can still affect their future behavior, said study co-author Dr. Dimitri Christakis, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and director of the Center for Child Health, Behavior and Development at Seattle Children's Hospital.
Those who lie about the behaviors to show off may receive positive feedback from others -- comments such as "that's great" or "I do the same thing" -- that encourage them to actually try out the behaviors, he said.
Apart from that, teens who claim such behaviors are more likely to be victims of bullying and unwanted invitations for sex, he said. In a second study, Moreno and colleagues identified 190 profiles of 18- to 20-year-olds that contained three or more references to sexual behaviors or substance abuse. The authors then made a profile of their own, called "Dr. Meg," from which they sent a single e-mail to half these profiles, warning them about the risky information and offering information about clinical resources.
They found that, after three months, 42.1 percent of the profile owners who received the e-mail -- and 29.5 percent of those who did not -- either removed references to risky behaviors or made their profiles private. "It's really not that MySpace is bad or good. I think the lesson is that it's a tool, and how you use it determines the kinds of outcome you're going to get," Moreno said.
Experts say the bottom line is that parents should get more involved in the online lives of their children.
"I tell parents that they should absolutely create their own MySpace and Facebook page," Christakis said. The study inspired him to create his own Facebook account, and his 10-year-old already wants to know about his "friends," he said.
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