''Lou Dobbs Tonight'' is an American political and financial talk program that was hosted by

Lou Dobbs Louis Carl Dobbs (September 24, 1945 – July 18, 2024) was an American conservative political commentator, author, and television host who presented '' Moneyline'' (later ''Lou Dobbs Tonight'') from 1980 to 2009 and 2011 to 2021. From 2021 unti ...

. The program initially aired on

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

from its launch under the title ''Moneyline'', as its main financial news program. The program later shifted to an opinion-based format focusing on political and economic commentary, and was likewise renamed ''Lou Dobbs Tonight''. Field correspondents provided additional reporting and occasionally served as guest anchors. During Dobbs' tenure, prominent politicians and economists were regular guests on the show. On November 11, 2009, Lou Dobbs stepped down from CNN. On March 14, 2011, Dobbs moved to

Fox Business Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American conservative business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios ...

and hosted a new incarnation of ''Lou Dobbs Tonight.'' On February 5, 2021, Fox Business canceled ''Lou Dobbs Tonight'' after nearly 10 years on the channel after a

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

lawsuit was filed against

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

Smartmatic Smartmatic (also referred as Smartmatic Corp. or Smartmatic International), or Smartmatic SGO Group, is a multinational company that builds and implements electronic voting systems. The company also produces smart cities solutions (including ...

, a voting machine vendor, over statements made by Dobbs and other Fox Business and Fox News anchors. In January 2024, the program resumed airing as a streaming show on Lindell TV/FrankSpeech. Lou Dobbs died in July 2024.

History

CNN era

''Lou Dobbs Tonight'' began with the name ''Moneyline'' with the premiere of CNN and was CNN's main financial show for over 20 years. For a large portion of those years, it aired on

CNN International Cable News Network International or CNN International (CNNi, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel and website, owned by CNN Worldwide. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates ...

as well. In late 1997, Dobbs hired former ABC News and NBC News executive producer David Bohrman to turn the program into a more general evening newscast, which would be called ''The Moneyline NewsHour''. The program was half financially focused and half general news. It was the first regular program at CNN to have its main control room outside of Atlanta. As the show moved more towards general news and economic and

political commentary Political criticism, also referred to as political commentary or political discussion, is a type of criticism that is specific of or relevant to politics, including policies, politicians, political parties, and types of government. See also *Cr ...

, it was renamed ''Lou Dobbs Moneyline'' and then ''Lou Dobbs Tonight''. The show was among CNN's most watched. On November 4, 2006, a taped weekend edition of ''Lou Dobbs Tonight'', entitled ''Lou Dobbs This Week'', began airing. The weekend show, which aired every Saturday and Sunday night, discussed issues from the past week and the week ahead. On November 11, 2009, Lou Dobbs left the network, telling viewers that the night's episode of ''Lou Dobbs Tonight'' was his last. Further, he said, "Some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN". Although he had a contract with CNN until the end of 2011, CNN agreed to release him early. It was announced that John King would host a new program in the time slot and that the transitional program ''

CNN Tonight ''CNN Tonight'' is the title of several news programs that were broadcast by U.S. cable network CNN. The ''CNN Tonight'' branding has primarily been used for transitional programs aired by CNN in the evening and prime time hours as part of chang ...

'' (initially hosted by

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American jurist serving since 2005 as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He has been described as having a Moderate conservatism, moderate conservative judicial philosophy, thoug ...

) would replace ''Lou Dobbs Tonight'' in the meantime. John King's new program, '' John King, USA'', debuted in Lou Dobbs' time slot on March 22, 2010.

Fox Business era

On November 10, 2010,

Fox Business Network Fox Business (officially known as Fox Business Network, or FBN) is an American conservative business news channel and website publication owned by the Fox News Media division of Fox Corporation. The channel broadcasts primarily from studios ...

announced that Dobbs would join the channel. On March 3, 2011, it was announced that Dobbs' program would premiere on March 14, and that it would also be known as ''Lou Dobbs Tonight.'' The program became the network's highest-rated series, especially during the

first presidency of Donald Trump Donald Trump's first tenure as the president of the United States began on January 20, 2017, when Trump First inauguration of Donald Trump, was inaugurated as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president, and ended on January ...

—whom Dobbs regularly supported on-air. On January 4, 2021, Dobbs stated on air that "everyone knows" crimes were committed in the election process in several states, but he went on to state that "...we still don't have verifiable, tangible support" for those alleged crimes. He added that "...we have had a devil of a time finding actual proof." On February 5, 2021, Fox Business abruptly cancelled ''Lou Dobbs Tonight''. Dobbs was one of several anchors that had been named in a defamation lawsuit against Fox News by voting machine vendor

, which accused the parties of spreading conspiracy theories alleging that it was responsible for

voter fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share o ...

during the 2020 presidential election. The program was replaced in its time slot by ''Fox Business Tonight'', which is hosted by various Fox Business anchors.

Regular features

One regular feature on the show was "Exporting America", in which Dobbs documented American companies that outsourced jobs to overseas facilities, as well as those businesses that took special steps to keep jobs on U.S. soil. He compiled a list of companies that had outsourced, and he posted it on the show's website and occasionally repeated it on the air. Dobbs frequently criticized U.S.

international trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (See: World economy.) In most countries, such trade represents a significan ...

policy, saying that it insufficiently protected American jobs, and advocated what many consider economic

protectionism Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations ...

in contrast to

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...

. As part of his criticism of

globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

, he often noted that the United States runs trade deficits with virtually every major trading partner it has, especially

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The journalist also published a book titled ''Exporting America: Why Corporate Greed Is Shipping American Jobs Overseas'', detailing the individuals and interests behind exporting U.S. jobs overseas. Another regular feature was "Broken Borders", which highlighted what Dobbs considered to be the problems and costs associated with

illegal immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of that country's immigration laws, or the continuous residence in a country without the legal right to do so. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upward, wi ...

and the inefficiencies in the U.S. Border Patrol and immigration policies in general. Dobbs has remained consistent on this view on the Fox Business Network as well.

Correspondents and production

Kitty Pilgrim was a correspondent for the CNN version of the program and the most frequent substitute anchor when Dobbs was not on. Other reporters attached to CNN's ''Lou Dobbs Tonight'' included

Dana Bash Dana Ruth Bash (née Schwartz; born June 15, 1971) is an American journalist, news anchor, host of '' Inside Politics'' and co-anchor of ''State of the Union'' on CNN. Early life and education Bash was born Dana Ruth Schwartz in Manhattan into ...

, Lisa Sylvester, and Suzanne Malveaux. The show was broadcast live from CNN's New York studios, located in the

Time Warner Center Deutsche Bank Center (also known as One Columbus Circle and formerly Time Warner Center) is a mixed-use building on Columbus Circle in Manhattan, New York City, United States. The building occupies the western side of Columbus Circle and strad ...

. The Fox Business version of the program originated from Studio B at the News Corp. Building, then towards the end, from a home studio on Dobbs' farm in Wantage Township in

Sussex County, New Jersey Sussex County () is the northernmost county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its county seat is Newton.Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

data. At Fox Business, the show maintained a multi-year lead as the top business program in its time slot and overall on television.

References

External links