Only Lou Dobbs could take us this far through the journalistic rabbit hole: The noted fathead aired a segment on his CNN show last month that blasted the Washington Post for being biased in its coverage of immigration because—now read carefully—Post chairman Donald Graham is a trustee of a charitable foundation that gave money to a Maryland immigrant rights group. And that group published a pamphlet once that advised people on how to avoid being deported. Precisely how that logic chain is supposed to implicate the reporters and editors who actually cover immigration for the Post was left unclear in correspondent Linda Sylvester's report. Presumably the accusation is that Washington Post reporters manipulate the facts to fit a predetermined agenda.

So when Sylvester and her producer set out to find a talking head for the Post segment on Dobbs's show, they naturally sought out a neutral, unbiased journalism expert who could offer unvarnished analysis as to whether Graham's extracurricular charitable activities constituted a bias, right? Wrong.

"They called and said, 'We need an expert to criticize the Washington Post's coverage of immigration based on the fact that ... a foundation that Donald Graham is involved with gave a grant to a group ... that put out a brochure ... that, among other things, advised immigrants on how to deal with law enforcement'" says Mark Feldstein, a George Washington University professor who was contacted by a producer for Dobbs's show. "I thought, 'Wow, you're really reaching.' The first thing I teach my students is, you interview people to see what they think. You don't coach them to say what you want them to say."

In other words, Dobbs set out to produce a segment on bias in the media by seeking out an "independent expert" who would say precisely what he wanted them to say: That there's a bias in the media.

Needless to say, Feldstein declined. Sylvester settled instead on Geneva Overholser, a journalism professor at the University of Missouri, who says Sylvester's approach was less forward than that of the producer who called Feldstein.

"She told me they were taking a look at advocacy journalism," says Overholser. When Sylvester brought up the Donald Graham accusation, Overholser claims, "I said, 'Getting into what board someone sits on—it seems to me getting excited about that is ridiculous. I very specifically said I certainly didn't think the Washington Post is doing journalism from the left." Sylvester moved on, Overholser says, and when time came for the on-camera interview, Sylvester didn't bring up Graham at all.

But in the finished piece that aired, the Graham accusation looms large, and Overholser's on-camera soundbite—"I think there are different ways to do journalism legitimately, but you have to ... not pretend that you're doing objectivity when you're not"—comes on the heels of a conservative talking head from Accuracy in Media raising the accusations against the Post. "To the degree that this implies that I would have been chiding Graham," Overholser says of the segment, "it is completely out of line."

Sylvester declined to comment for the record. A CNN spokeswoman, taking time out of her busy day fending off charges that Dobbs's show is a forum for white supremacists, said Feldstein misinterpreted the producer's comments. "It's ridiculous to suggest that anyone was trying to coach anyone," she said. "The fact is that they were trying to get someone neutral, and the booker was just explaining what Lou's take is."

To Dobbs's credit, he did end the segment with an incoherent acknowledgement that he is guilty of the same sins for which he was attacking the Post. When Sylvester allowed that "this broadcast has been the target of frequent critics who have labeled this advocacy journalism," Dobbs asked archly. "You're suggesting that I do advocacy journalism here, Lisa Sylvester?"

"I'm suggesting I think we all do," Sylvester said. "But you got to take a stand in this world, Lou."

To which Dobbs replied: "Amen, Sister." Sylvester, by the way, is black, and was immediately hip to Dobbs's jive.

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