Lou Dobbs loses his prime time spot on CNN, replaced by John King

On the November 11, 2009 edition of his nightly broadcast Lou Dobbs Tonight, Dobbs announced his immediate departure from CNN, citing plans to "'pursue new opportunities."

Jon Klein, CNN president, said Thursday that veteran reporter John King will move into the 7 p.m. EST slot that's been held loosely by Lou Dobbs.

With about 30 years of service to CNN, joining when it launched in 1980, serving as its chief economics correspondent and as host of the business news program Moneyline, he also served as a corporate executive for CNN, as its executive vice president and as a member of CNN's executive committee.

Dobbs founded CNN fn (CNN financial news), serving as its president and anchoring the program Business Unusual, which examined business creativity and leadership.

His trouble started when Rick Kaplan, who became president of CNN in 1997. Dobbs said Kaplan, a friend Bill Clinton, was "clearly partisan" and "was pushing Clinton stories. Kaplan having said Lou Dobbs was hard to work with.

Kaplan left CNN in August 2000, and Dobbs returned the following year, with the help of his friend and CNN founder Ted Turner.

Wednesday evening, Dobbs announced that it would be his last show on CNN. He said he wanted to pursue more advocacy journalism, a route that was no longer available to him on CNN.

Lou Dobbs, had become a target of criticism from liberal and Latino advocacy organizations for his campaign against illegal immigration, issues that one could be sure to hear at least twice every Dobbs segment.

Dobbs was in constant jabs wtih CNN management over his questions relating to President Barack Obama's birth site, even after CNN reporters had found nothing to substantiate the issue.

Despite his so called shortcomings to the CNN network, Dobbs has won numerous major awards for his television journalism, most notably a Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award and a Cable Ace Award. He has also received the George Foster Peabody Award for his coverage of the 1987 stock market crash.

While the new opportunities of Lou Dobbs are not yet clear to the public, he vowed to be a leader in the "national conversation" to restore "inspiration to our great free society and our market economy."

John King, Dobbs replacement will host a show about politics beginning early next year.

King said Thursday that he wants his show to bring more depth to issues, to get beyond a phrase like "public option" to explain what it really means. There will be provocative discussions, and guests with many different opinions will be welcomed.

"I'm going to do what I think needs to be done," he said. "I think over time that viewers, if they compare and contrast, will be getting more meat" from his show than his competitors.

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