The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
Your teacher today is…; the trouble with Lou Dobbs; and the way to save people from malaria.

Nov. 2, 2005

     ABC financial contributor Mellody Hobson showed Charles Gibson it’s never too late to learn when she delivered a powerful free market lecture on oil prices this week. Over at CNN, Christine Romans and the other Dobbs Lou-natics painted a skewed picture of America. It wasn’t modern art, but it sure wasn’t realism. Throwing money at a problem can work and ABC commended the Gates Foundation for trying to solve the African malaria crisis. What it didn’t do is discuss an existing solution that the left won’t tolerate.

The Good
     When reporters are good, sometimes they are very good. Take financial contributor Mellody Hobson of ABC’s “Good Morning America.” Hobson schooled GMA’s Charles Gibson about oil and the free market so effectively, he was left stunned by her performance. (See video) Gibson asked her about whether oil companies were “taking advantage of the recent hurricanes. Is the outrage warranted?” Hobson left no room for doubt. “It actually is not warranted, and the reason is the oil companies have nothing to do with how gas prices are set.” She added, since Gibson looked befuddled: “And more specifically what I mean by that is that those prices are set by market forces.” That Mellody is music to our ears.

The Bad
     Boy, we got trouble – right here … in the United States. At least that’s what the staff at “Lou Dobbs Tonight” would have us all believe. According to Christine Romans, “there are fundamental problems in this country that are eating away the foundations of America and the numbers don't lie.” While those numbers don’t lie, CNN sure managed to twist them a lot and deliver a skewed report of America – a nation in far less trouble than CNN would have us believe.

The Ugly
     ABC’s “World News Tonight” did a nice piece on the Gates Foundation, lionizing the much-maligned Microsoft icon for his work against African malaria. The problem with the piece wasn’t what the report included; it was what it left out – DDT. DDT remains the most effective way to limit the spread of malaria in Africa, but it also remains a victim of left-wing environmentalist propaganda. ABC should have addressed the most effective way to save millions of African lives. Instead, by excluding an obvious solution, the network bought the propaganda hook, line and sinker while people in Africa are dying.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly tracks the best and worst media coverage of business and economics. Readers are invited to submit suggestions or news tips to Director Dan Gainor at [email protected].