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Dobbs rejoins CNN
Or that's the latest buzz in the cable news wars
By Jeff Bercovici
Is CNN’s wayward son about to stage a return?
For weeks, buzz has been building that Lou Dobbs, the network’s erstwhile financial news honcho, might quit his failing internet start-up and return to his anchor desk at "Moneyline News Hour."
The speculation crescendoed today with reports circulating that Dobbs has signed a contract that will not only restore him to "Moneyline" but also give him control over the network’s business and markets coverage.
His duties will include overseeing the relaunch of CNNfn, the channel’s financial news spinoff, as CNN Money, scheduled for later this year.
CNN is expected to announce the deal today.
In a neat bit of symmetry, Dobbs will replace Stuart Varney, who himself was recruited, along with Willow Bay, to replace Dobbs after his exit in 1999.
Varney quit last month, reportedly in protest over a reference by CNN founder Ted Turner to devout Christians as "Jesus freaks." Unhappiness about his status at the network may also have contributed to his departure.
Since Varney's exit, Bay has reportedly shown reluctance to move to New York and take over as the show’s lone anchor. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Disney president Robert Iger.
Scarcely had Varney resigned when talk of Dobbs’s homecoming began.
For CNN, it seemed an ideal scenario: "Moneyline," which Dobbs himself founded 20 years ago, has lost more than a quarter of its audience since his departure from CNN two summers ago. It has been outstripped in the ratings race by CNBC’s "Business Center," anchored by Ron Insana and Sue Herera.
But until very recently, a return seemed unlikely. When Dobbs left, it was under the bitterest of circumstances, after fierce clashes with CNN’s then-president Rick Kaplan.
Since he left, Dobbs has not only been deeply involved as the chairman of Space.com, he has also been forging ties with NBC, contributing to a radio show and a newsletter, though his contract with CNN blocks him from appearing on rival television networks until next year.
However, Kaplan’s ouster from CNN, which took place last year, marked a beginning in paving the way for Dobbs to come back.
Possibly contributing to Dobbs’s nostalgia is the performance of his current endeavor. Highly touted at its launch, Space.com has since come to resemble nothing so much as a parody of internet-business exuberance, plagued by mass layoffs and high-level walkouts.
Dobbs has said he has no plans to leave Space.com, but most think he will have to relinquish his control of the web site in order to rejoin CNN.
April 10, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.
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