Bernard Goldberg - Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distorts the News
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I bet Dan Rather wishes that he had read this book
Pros
it's a great book about Bias
Cons
Arrogance was better, also a bit to much venom at Rather
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
You also learn to speak Dan-ish.
All right a few weeks ago I was watching Hannity and Colmens on the fox news network when the liberal strategists said that the media was tilted to the right. I said "on what planet was this bozo on", it doesn't take much listening to the nightly news cast to find out that the news cast are left leaning. If you don't believe me listen to the conservative tag that they put on everybody who's against everything that any politically correct liberal idea, it's always a conservative, and you have to say it like this guy has some sort of disease that makes leprosy look like the chicken pox. The only time you hear someone called liberal is that if they admit it themselves, got to make sure you don't hurt these people humility before parading them around like heroes of the people.
Well after hearing that I decided to go check out Bernard Goldberg's Bias, I had all ready read his follow up book Arrogance. While I am pleased with Bias, Arrogance was a more entertaining and factual book. Bias just shows us when there is Bias, and a little bit of why. It doesn't get to the main problems of Bias in the news and how to get rid of it, if you all ready now about all the Bias in the news then skip to Arrogance that one shows you all the liberal politically correct agendas that have invaded the news. And since this is the last day for Dan Rather to be anchoring the CBS news desk what better time to review Bias.
The book.
The book begins with Goldberg talking about something that he did that would eventually lead him to quit CBS news. He was one of there top reporters at the time when he did something unthinkable. He wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal about how there was Bias in the CBS news after listening to a report on CBS news in which the reporter openly mocked a Republican Presidential candidates flat tax policy. This got him in hot water despite him saying things that everybody else knew. He finds himself alone and isolated at CBS. The first couple of chapters discuss how CBS handles the whistle blowers in the case of Bias has he is isolated by a lot of people, and snubbed by Dan Rather.
He then goes into the Bias problem and the problem is and most conservatives will admit this to that it isn't some left wing agenda that is being supported by a few producers and reporters. If that was the case all there had to do is hand out a few pink slips and the problem is solved. But that's not the case the problem is that is ingrained in the whole culture of the news. They don't see themselves has being liberal or even leaning left, they see themselves has mainstream middle of the road. This is my example right hear if your in the same nitch that I fall in you play video games and watch Anime all of your free time and hang out with people who only do that you'll start to think that people who don't like anime or playing video games are crazy. (Which by the way if you don't play video games our watch anime you are). Since all these news man live in the elite part of New York they don't see, talk, or listen to people who have different perspectives on the cultural events of are time. Throw in the fact that whatever the New York Times says must be true and you quickly see why the nightly news on all the major networks have problems.
Now a few of the things he chooses us to show where the news media slipped for the politically correct agenda, or to choose stories that might make a Republican in power look bad there are a few. First there is the aids dilemma that happen to America in the 1980's where the media used scare tactics to make that most responsible heterosexual adults will be facing a major risk in aids. They even spat out false numbers and information, the reason was the aids lobby and research wanted to get federal money and if Americans where scared that they where going to catch a disease that would make them die a slow horrible death then they where more likely going to support federal money programs. This outraged me a little bit that the major network would lie but at least this one was for a good cause, aids is one of the scariest disease to exist to mankind so yeah you would be crazy not to want some research for the disease. It's an interesting chapter to check out in the book.
Another chapter called "how Bill Clinton cured homelessness" is an amusing chapter, if it doesn't amuse you then it certainly the tick you off. Starting in the 80's with the election of Regan the nightly news started to do reports on homelessness. The problem is that these homelessness aren't the usual people you see on the streets. There not the drug addicts, or the people who where kicked out of mental institutions during the 60's and 70's they where people who looked like the usual middle class white family. Again like the aids virus the network news exploded it to preposterous numbers, like 19 million homeless people by 2000. This redo rick all went away when Bill Clinton took office and the reports about it went away. And surprisingly when George W took office the reports started all over again.
Bernie also goes into how the politically correctness of the media sometimes goes out of control. While he doesn't go into it like he does in Arrogance I find it amusing that a camera man got in trouble for taking pictures of a black man getting arrested. Now you might say that's raciest, well it happen in the Virgin Islands, on an island where most of the population is dark skinned. The police arresting them where all black but some of the CBS producers accused the photographer of being a racist. Of course Bernie goes on to explain if it's about doing anything about any real black injustices, and not merely making sure that they look PC the media won't do it. In one of the later chapters Bernie also explains that the media will often skip black human interest stories because they won't get has high rating has whites.
While I found this book to be entertaining like Arrogance by main complaint is that he seems to sometimes come a little bit to far from the right to sound reasonable. And he also seems to hate Dan Rather a bit to much, not that he doesn't have the rights after everything Dan has done to him and others but it seems like he's spitting to much venom at Dan to be credible. Also like I said there is not much pointing to the roots of the problems or the way to fix it. It's mainly just discussing and identify doing it, anybody who lives in the red state will probably pretty much all ready now how to do this. They may be surprised how deep it actually runs but they all ready now a good deal of stuff in this book just from looking at the news, and the places that they life in.
Final Recommendation.
If you don't think there is a bias in the news media or just interested on a few of the more ridicules things they have done to point this out. However if you all ready now pretty much about Bias how to spot it and where it is then you might just skip this book and move on to Arrogance.
Well after hearing that I decided to go check out Bernard Goldberg's Bias, I had all ready read his follow up book Arrogance. While I am pleased with Bias, Arrogance was a more entertaining and factual book. Bias just shows us when there is Bias, and a little bit of why. It doesn't get to the main problems of Bias in the news and how to get rid of it, if you all ready now about all the Bias in the news then skip to Arrogance that one shows you all the liberal politically correct agendas that have invaded the news. And since this is the last day for Dan Rather to be anchoring the CBS news desk what better time to review Bias.
The book.
The book begins with Goldberg talking about something that he did that would eventually lead him to quit CBS news. He was one of there top reporters at the time when he did something unthinkable. He wrote a column for the Wall Street Journal about how there was Bias in the CBS news after listening to a report on CBS news in which the reporter openly mocked a Republican Presidential candidates flat tax policy. This got him in hot water despite him saying things that everybody else knew. He finds himself alone and isolated at CBS. The first couple of chapters discuss how CBS handles the whistle blowers in the case of Bias has he is isolated by a lot of people, and snubbed by Dan Rather.
He then goes into the Bias problem and the problem is and most conservatives will admit this to that it isn't some left wing agenda that is being supported by a few producers and reporters. If that was the case all there had to do is hand out a few pink slips and the problem is solved. But that's not the case the problem is that is ingrained in the whole culture of the news. They don't see themselves has being liberal or even leaning left, they see themselves has mainstream middle of the road. This is my example right hear if your in the same nitch that I fall in you play video games and watch Anime all of your free time and hang out with people who only do that you'll start to think that people who don't like anime or playing video games are crazy. (Which by the way if you don't play video games our watch anime you are). Since all these news man live in the elite part of New York they don't see, talk, or listen to people who have different perspectives on the cultural events of are time. Throw in the fact that whatever the New York Times says must be true and you quickly see why the nightly news on all the major networks have problems.
Now a few of the things he chooses us to show where the news media slipped for the politically correct agenda, or to choose stories that might make a Republican in power look bad there are a few. First there is the aids dilemma that happen to America in the 1980's where the media used scare tactics to make that most responsible heterosexual adults will be facing a major risk in aids. They even spat out false numbers and information, the reason was the aids lobby and research wanted to get federal money and if Americans where scared that they where going to catch a disease that would make them die a slow horrible death then they where more likely going to support federal money programs. This outraged me a little bit that the major network would lie but at least this one was for a good cause, aids is one of the scariest disease to exist to mankind so yeah you would be crazy not to want some research for the disease. It's an interesting chapter to check out in the book.
Another chapter called "how Bill Clinton cured homelessness" is an amusing chapter, if it doesn't amuse you then it certainly the tick you off. Starting in the 80's with the election of Regan the nightly news started to do reports on homelessness. The problem is that these homelessness aren't the usual people you see on the streets. There not the drug addicts, or the people who where kicked out of mental institutions during the 60's and 70's they where people who looked like the usual middle class white family. Again like the aids virus the network news exploded it to preposterous numbers, like 19 million homeless people by 2000. This redo rick all went away when Bill Clinton took office and the reports about it went away. And surprisingly when George W took office the reports started all over again.
Bernie also goes into how the politically correctness of the media sometimes goes out of control. While he doesn't go into it like he does in Arrogance I find it amusing that a camera man got in trouble for taking pictures of a black man getting arrested. Now you might say that's raciest, well it happen in the Virgin Islands, on an island where most of the population is dark skinned. The police arresting them where all black but some of the CBS producers accused the photographer of being a racist. Of course Bernie goes on to explain if it's about doing anything about any real black injustices, and not merely making sure that they look PC the media won't do it. In one of the later chapters Bernie also explains that the media will often skip black human interest stories because they won't get has high rating has whites.
While I found this book to be entertaining like Arrogance by main complaint is that he seems to sometimes come a little bit to far from the right to sound reasonable. And he also seems to hate Dan Rather a bit to much, not that he doesn't have the rights after everything Dan has done to him and others but it seems like he's spitting to much venom at Dan to be credible. Also like I said there is not much pointing to the roots of the problems or the way to fix it. It's mainly just discussing and identify doing it, anybody who lives in the red state will probably pretty much all ready now how to do this. They may be surprised how deep it actually runs but they all ready now a good deal of stuff in this book just from looking at the news, and the places that they life in.
Final Recommendation.
If you don't think there is a bias in the news media or just interested on a few of the more ridicules things they have done to point this out. However if you all ready now pretty much about Bias how to spot it and where it is then you might just skip this book and move on to Arrogance.
