Dobbs, Lou 1945–

views updated May 18 2018

DOBBS, Lou 1945–

PERSONAL

Born September 24, 1945, in Childress, TX (some sources cite Idaho); married Debi Segura; children: Chance, Jason, Hilary, Heather. Education: Harvard University, A.B., 1967.

Addresses: Contact—c/o Lou Dobbs Money Letter, Phillips Investment Resources, 7811 Montrose Rd., Potomac, MD 20854.

Career: Broadcast journalist and writer. KBLU-AM Radio, Yuma, AZ, worked as a police reporter; worked as a local news reporter in Arizona; KING-TV, Seattle, WA, worked as a financial news reporter; Cable News Network, founding member, 1980, chief economic correspondent, 1980–99, founding member and executive vice president of Internet Division (CNNfn.com), 1995–99, president for news and executive vice president, 1997–98, founding member and president of Financial News Division (CNNfn), beginning 2001; Space.com (multimedia company), founder, 1999, partner and board member, 1999–2001, then chairperson; Integrity Bank, partner. Member of board of directors, Society of Professional Journalists Foundation and National Space Foundation. Also worked as a copy reader for the Los Angeles Times.

Member: American Economic Association, Investigative Reporters and Editors Association, Overseas Press Club of America, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Planetary Society, Horatio Alger Association (member of board of directors), Society of Professional Journalists/Sigma Delta Chi.

Awards, Honors: George Foster Peabody Broadcasting Award, Henry W. Grady School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of Georgia, c. 1987, for coverage of stock market crash in 1987; Luminary Award, Business Journalism Review, 1990; named father of the year, National Father's Day Committee, 1993; Horatio Alger Award for Distinguished Americans, Horatio Alger Association, 1999; Media Award, National Space Club, 2000; Man of the Year Award, Organization for the Rights of American Workers, 2004; George J. Kourpas Excellence in Journalism Award, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, 2004; Hugh O'Brien Youth Leadership in Media Award, 2004; Eugene Katz Award, excellence in coverage of immigration, Center for Immigration Studies, for a series on "Broken Borders." Other recognitions include Front Page Award from Newswomen's Club, New York Film Festival Award, Annual CableACE Award from National Cable Television Association, Janus Award, Daniel Webster Award, and Emmy Award.

CREDITS

Television Appearances; Series:

Host, Lou Dobbs Moneyline (also known as Moneyline, Moneyline News Hour, and Moneyline with Lou Dobbs), Cable News Network, beginning 1980.

Anchor, Primenews, Cable News Network, beginning 1981.

Host, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Cable News Network, 1996–99, then beginning 2001.

Anchor, Business Unusual, Cable News Network, beginning 1997.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Host, Nobel Minds, 1993.

Host, Year in Review—Business, Cable News Network, 1994.

Financial correspondent, Baseball's Back!, TBS, 1995.

Himself, "Dow and Jones: Wizards of Wall Street," Biography (also known as A&E Biography: Dow and Jones: Wizards of Wall Street), Arts and Entertainment, 1997.

Financial correspondent, The Money Trail: Democracy for Sale, Cable News Network, 1997.

Television Work; Series:

Executive in charge, Family Values, Cable News Network, beginning 1996.

Executive in charge, The Most Toys, Cable News Network, beginning 1996.

Executive in charge, Show & Tell, Cable News Network, beginning 1996.

Executive in charge, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Cable News Network, 1996–99.

Managing editor, Lou Dobbs Moneyline (also known as Moneyline, Moneyline News Hour, and Moneyline with Lou Dobbs), Cable News Network, beginning 2001.

Managing editor, Lou Dobbs Tonight, Cable News Network, beginning 2001.

Radio Appearances; Series:

Anchor of The Lou Dobbs Financial Report, syndicated by United Stations Radio Networks.

RECORDINGS

Audiobooks:

Lou Dobbs, Thieves Barbarians Liars, Random House Audio Voices, 2004.

WRITINGS

Nonfiction:

(With H. P. Newquist) Space: The Next Business Frontier, Atria Books, 2001.

Exporting America: Why Corporate Greed Is Shipping American Jobs Overseas, Warner Books, 2004.

Author of "The Dobbs Report," a monthly column for Money, a biweekly column for U.S. News and World Report, and a weekly column syndicated by New York Daily News; contributor to other periodicals, including the San Diego Business Journal. Author and founding editor of Lou Dobbs Money Letter.

Audiobooks:

Thieves Barbarians Liars, Random House Audio Voices, 2004.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

Gale Encyclopedia of E-Commerce, Gale, 2002.

Periodicals:

Adweek, May 1, 2000.

Broadcasting and Cable, August 30, 1999; April 17, 2000; April 16, 2001, p. 12; May 13, 2002, p. 30.

Columbia Journalism Review, June 17, 2004.

Financial Times, April 11, 2001.

Fortune, December 20, 1999.

Media Week, May 13, 2002.

Money, July 1, 2002.

Mother Jones, February 7, 2005.

Newsweek, September 20, 1999.

Playboy, November, 2002, pp. 108-109, 146.

U.S. News and World Report, August 2, 1999, p. 49.

Variety, June 14, 1999, p. 17.

Electronic:

CNN Online, http://www.cnn.com, August 23, 2005.

MSNBC Web Site, http://msnbc.msn.com, April 9, 2004.

Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television

Dobbs, Lou

views updated May 21 2018

DOBBS, LOU

One of the leading cable television talk show hosts, Lou Dobbs also has been a front-runner in the dot-com world. An executive vice president with CNN, Dobbs founded CNN's Financial News (CNNfn) and its Web affiliate, CNNfn.com, the first programming services that were launched simultaneously on television and the Internet. Dobbs also anchored CNN's show Moneyline News Hour.

Dobbs was born in rural Idaho, far away from the nation's financial centers, and eventually won a scholarship to Harvard, where he graduated in economics. However, he pursued a journalism career, beginning as a financial news reporter on Seattle's KING-TV until Ted Turner hired him in 1980 as CNN's chief economics correspondent and as host of Moneyline. Dobbs became president of CNNfn in 1997. With Dobbs as anchor, Moneyline ranked among CNN's highest income-earning programs, though initially critics labeled its content as "boring."

Dobbs's first Internet endeavor was CNNfn.com, a Web site affiliated with the popular cable program. A fully searchable site, CNNfn.com featured financial news and hosted a financial information directory. Dobbs predicted the site would double its 2 billion hits after its first year in operation. Unlike many dotcom ventures, CNNfn.com turned a profit of approximately $25 million.

After 19 years with Moneyline, in July 1999 Dobbs resigned to launch another Internet venture, Space.com. The site provided news, information, entertainment, and educational content on outer space and was aimed at a wide online audience. The site was served by a news staff of 27 journalists operating from bureaus in Washington, D.C., Cape Canaveral, Houston, and Pasadena. It drew revenue from several sources, including online and television advertising, content syndication, a magazine, and retail licensing and merchandising. Dobbs also envisioned developing the site's business-to-business capability.

In early 2001, Dobbs announced that he intended to return to CNN and Moneyline. He also planned to help launch the network's new show Money. This financial program targeted average Americans, rather than the upper-income households attracted by Moneyline. Dobbs would resign as chief executive of Space.com, but remain chairman and keep his stake in the company. In 1999, Dobbs won the Horatio Alger Association award for Distinguished Americans.