R.I.P.: Lou Dobbs, Cable News Pioneer

Lou Dobbs, the conservative television and radio host who loomed large over the cable news landscape for decades at CNN and Fox Business, and later used his platform to promote baseless conspiracy theories and to lend unwavering support to former President Donald J. Trump, has died. He was 78.

The NY Times reports his death was confirmed on Thursday on Dobbs’s website and social media accounts after Trump announced it on the Truth Social platform. No cause of death was given, and where or when he died was not immediately clear. Mr. Dobbs had been absent from “The Great America Show,” his podcast on the iHeartRadio network, for several weeks.

Lou Dobbs

With his boyish face and authoritative demeanor, Dobbs had an on-air presence that could swing from folksy and avuncular to stridently indignant. He began his climb to cable news stardom as the host of “Moneyline” when CNN was founded in 1980.

Dobbs was part of a rising stable of cable hosts, which included Bill O’Reilly at Fox News and Keith Olbermann at MSNBC, who built national profiles as aggressively opinionated talkers.

Despite CNN’s efforts to position itself as a home for straight news, Dobbs’s 6 p.m. news program was accompanied with the disclaimer that it would contain “news, debate and opinion.”

Dobbs abruptly left CNN in 2009, as Jonathan Klein, the president of the network, said that Dobbs “decided to carry the banner of advocacy journalism elsewhere.” The next year he joined Fox Business, lured by the network’s co-founder Roger Ailes.

In his new network home, Mr. Dobbs would entrench his reputation as a beacon of lunch-pail conservatism — a stance that would bring him more fame, and controversy, with the emergence of Mr. Trump on the national political landscape.

Statement From FOX News Media:

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Lou Dobbs. An incredible business mind with a gift for broadcasting, Lou helped pioneer cable news into a successful and influential industry. We are immensely grateful for his many contributions and send our heartfelt condolences to his family.”