Rating: 
Summary: The Truth is our there.
Review: As someone who started his career as a News cameraman at the network level, I came to a similar conclusion a long time ago, reporters routinely formed the premise, or slant for their story long before setting out to find images and interviewees that would fit the bill. Based on my experiences and those of people I still know in that business Mr. Goldberg's accounts are spot on!The book starts out with a certain amount of bitterness toward his former employer, CBS and Dan Rather which while perfectly understandable does turn on this point for a few too many pages. After this brief detour however, the pace picks up, there are very specific news accounts cited and how they were molded to fit the reporter or news director's agenda. There is a good use of statistical data specific to how interest groups pad their numbers in order to gain more sympathy for their cause, (cue tape!) no matter how just it might be. My favorite was that the date homelessness ended could be quantified, it was the day President Clinton assumed office, or so we were led to believe by the media. It did start up again however, when President Bush came into power. The book is full of irony if you had not guessed by now.
As a sidebar there is also the issue of format that many American's don't realize and or care about. Local and network news by their nature do not have the time for analysis and intelligent debate on any topic, stories wiz by as little bites of infotainment wedged between commercials. What people are left with is often distorted and an incomplete picture of what generally is a more complex story. There are few examples of thoughtful discussions of stories of that day, some can be found on PBS, The News Hour, with Jim Lehrer and Morning Edition, or All Things Considered, radio on NPR, which make at least an attempt for balanced reporting. Most people however, want their news like they want their food, fast! I am concerned however, that the machine will make every attempt to thwart Mr. Goldberg's noble effort, by continuing to smear him. In addition, they can effectively ignore the issues as they have total control over the airwaves, which as I recall were public, but that exists only in fairytales. Worth every bit of your time, this book should be required reading in every college communications course.
Rating: 
Summary: All Hype
Review: Bernie Goldberg's premise is that liberalism is so ingrained into the mass media, that they don't even realize how biased they are -- and I'm inclined to aggree. But most of Goldberg's evidence supports a different theory, that media is biased on purpose. The other problem is that Goldberg is clearly a television writer, not an essayist in print. His prose reads like an over-hyped tabloid TV broadcast, complete with all-too-liberal (pun intended) use of italics and boldface. And some charitable editor really ought to rip the exclamation mark off Bernie's keyboard before he uses it again. What saves this book from a mere two-star rating are some fun (and sometimes blistering) anecdotes, behind the scenes at CBS News. If you want some dish about how TV newsrooms work, then this book has some Drudge-worthy material for you. But it doesn't live up to its title.
Rating: 
Summary: No!
Review: Claims that because this writer is an insider, he must be telling the truth, are ridiculous. If the media are so biased, so may this journalist be. As always with this type of book, the author engages in what he derides: biasing things awfully himself badly. There is one reason for writing this book, and it is MONEY. It will sell books to write such crowd-pleasing nonsense.
Goldberg's "insider views"' credibility must be questioned when he is trying to sell books to conservative audiences.
On the other hand, I can think of some instances on which this "liberal media" slants everything. Us liberals were obviously at fault to call Hitler a bad man for example, hmm, yes, an obvious huge slant to the left of the real truth. Any kind of sense, also, is of course, a terrible thing in the media. Face it: people have different views. The media does its best to balance things up and so of course it is neither as left-wing as liberals would wish or as as right-wing as conservatives would wish. The media tells the truth. That it wont bias itself to the right DOES NOT mean that it is biased to the left.
Rating: 
Summary: Understand How The News Media Thinks
Review: I found this book really fascinating and the first real glimpse I've seen into the people who decide what will be shown on the news and TV. The best part of the book is that the author himself is quite liberal in his beliefs, but he points out that what he believes in is viewed as the norm by news people and not as one side of the issue like it should be. If you enjoyed the movie 'The Insider' which shows how 60 minutes didn't air a revealing interview because of money, you'll enjoy this book which reveals more of the same. This book makes you question what you hear in the media which is always a good thing. The book flows well, so much that I couldn't put it down.
Rating:
Summary: An easy, somewhat insightful read.
Review: I enjoyed this book, and read it easily in 3 or 4 nights. It offered some new insights into the inner workings of the media and their self-denial of any internal biases. For instance, I felt like I gained some insight into why it is considered acceptable in the media to "bash" white males in a way that would be absolutely unacceptable toward a minority. Of course, Bernard Goldberg's media credentials make this book all the more notable and credible. On the downside, despite Mr. Goldberg's protestations to the contrary, I thought he spent too much time beating on Dan Rather. Not that his Dan Rather examples weren't appropriate, but they just got repetitious.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of good facts
Review: Overall, this book does what it sets out to do. It shows how the media have an agenda and will twist the news to promote this agenda. However, the author, a self-described liberal, is more of an old democrat. Old democrats, thanks to Ronald Reagan, are now republicans. So he is not the loony liberal that he claims to be. This shows in how he writes like an angry mad-man.
Regardless, if you look beyond his tone, the facts he shows are astounding and a great resource. It is a good work.
Rating:
Summary: What about Goldberg's bias?
Review: I found this book to be a grand waste of my time and money. It seems that the main motivation for writing it wasn't fair reporting, but getting back at certain individuals Goldberg felt wronged by. About the only use I can find for it right now is as a doorstep.
Rating:
Summary: Man bites network! Ouch!
Review: Bernard Goldberg has written one of those rare books that make you stop dead on your tracks halfway through life (OK, well, I am!), and realize that there is at least one obvious thing in the world you had not noticed in a while. The book shocked me repeatedly in chapter after chapter because I had not realized in my effort to be fair and unbiased, I have leaned further and further left during my life. And - sorry, mom - but some of that is OK. I want the schools to be better, and the environment to be saved, and a antidote found for AIDs. On the other hand, I want the media to present the news to me straight, too. It reminded me of a time in the 1980s when I was living in Corpus Christi, Texas, and a national reporter was standing downtown while a hurricane raged off the Gulf Coast, some distance away. The light rain was certainly steady, but the wind was fairly calm. The reporter played it for all it was worth - and signed off with a "if" we're here tomorrow, and I realized that the reporter was certainly justifying his expense report for a trip to South Texas. But the hurricane never hit land, and we only received a light rain shower. The spin it received on the national news was something else entirely. Thanks to Mr. Goldberg for reminding me of that. And for setting the record straight about education, about AIDs, about a number of different issues. I needed that.
Rating:
Summary: I'm not crazy after all...
Review: There is bias in the media. I thought maybe it was just me thinking "how can they say that and not say that?". Oh, I'm so glad Mr. Goldberg wrote this book and that I had the good fortune to read it. I've already been recommending it to several people. The examples he cited were amazing. Thank you, Mr. Goldberg! Keep up the tremendous work!
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Book - Highly recommended
Review: It's about time that somebody dispels the erroneus concept that everything told on the news is gospel truth and carved in stone.Dan Rathers slip of the tongue that "we are losing the election", referring to the fact that Bush had beaten Gore is one example.The number of Americans that erroneoously believe that Gore should have won indicates how powerful this biased reporting is.Cheers to Bernard Goldberg for having the fortitude to tell it like it really is. Great book. This is a must read.
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