Rating: 
Summary: An important though angry expose -- worth reading.
Review: Bernard Goldberg's "Bias" has a reason for spending so much time in the NY Times Bestseller list's #1 spot: It is an important and culturally-relevant work. No one but Goldberg could have written this book: His three decades at CBS gave him unique ethos and first-hand experience with media biases, and *that* is what makes this expose compelling.At the same time, though, readers may be taken aback by the scathing anger that fills many of the pages of this book. It's somewhat ironic that in his report on bias, Goldberg takes on such a clearly biased tone. Yes, he's writing an expose; yes, he had terrible experiences at the hands of those in charge of CBS; but unfortunately, his anger often detracts from his credibility, damaging the overall impression that his book makes on its readers. My recommendation: Read this book and pay attention -- this man clearly knows what he's talking about. Just brace yourself for 232 pages of writing that is sarcastic, vitriolic, and virtually humor-free. Once you've read it, though, you'll be grateful to Goldberg for sharing his experiences, which are of relevance to *anyone* who watches the news. Pick up a copy today!
Rating: 
Summary: It's about time!
Review: Thank you, Mr. Goldberg, for having the integrity to tell us what is really going on behind the scenes. This book is well-written. It will tell you about little subtleties used by the various news networks to add the bias to the news. The only problem is, trying to get your ultra-liberal friends to understand this. If you want a good companion book to go with this, read Tammy Bruce's book <i>The New Thought Police</i>.
Rating:
Summary: very inertesting
Review: This book is a behind the scene view of the media's dirty laundery.It's funny how the author refers to the media elites in Abc, CBS, and NBC as the news mafia. This book basically bad mouths every body in the media and accuses them of telling half trueths and not telling the whole story and the reason for falling ratings in ABC, CBS, and NBC is the people just don't trust them and turn to cable news like Bill O'Reilly. This book is we'll worth reading see how the media really is bias.
Rating: 
Summary: Good column topic, mediocre book
Review: Here's a review of the book that isn't based on an opinion of the politics involved. Mr. Goldberg's newspaper editorial piece that ignited his fame was the right vehicle for his opinions. A few hundred words, a few examples culled from his years of experience at CBS made his opinions interesting and insightful, whether or not you agree with his analysis.
However, even as one who generally agrees with what he's saying, the book was painful to read after the first few chapters. I found it repetitious and shallow. After the first 50 pages or so, you've read everything unique he has to say. This book proves why Mr. Goldberg was a producer at CBS and not on-air-talent. He's not Andy Rooney, more like a not-funny bitter shadow of Andy Rooney.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing Earth Shattering Just the Truth
Review: I must say that I was mildly disappointed in this book. While Mr. Goldberg's book is a New York Times Bestseller I truly wondered why after reading it. There is nothing inherently wrong or bad about this book, The writing is fast paced even though the author does seem to have a personal vendetta against Dan Rather, this can be overlooked easily and didn't take away from the main thesis. My disappointment lies in the fact that it just isn't very groundbreaking or earth shattering. It basically shows what you can watch overnight on the news or read everyday in the newspapers. The press has a liberal bias. For those who have not read the book, Mr. Goldberg does a good job in presenting several examples of the liberal media BIAS that is inherent to most of the major networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN). He does a great job in telling the reader that the liberal BIAS is not some secret conspiracy to inculcate the masses in the benefits of socialism. Instead he does stay clear of invectives and shows that the only reason the mainstream media has such a implicit liberal slant is because that is simply how the reporters are. The majority of reporters are radically left of center so that when they report the news it just comes naturally for them to add their extreme leftist views to their reporting. By the way, Mr. Goldberg does not tackle the issue of the truly partisan propaganda machines who are posing as news outlets (NPR, PBS, Etc.) The saddest part of these propaganda machines is that the very governments that they are trying to destroy funds the majority of them through taxpayer dollars. I would like to think, the majority of the citizens of the United States who turn on the television and discerningly watch the nightly news realize that it is presented with a liberal bias. I have friends both, conservative and liberal, who acknowledge this fact. What I don't understand is that why this book has turned out to be such a hit. When I read it I came away thinking: "Yeah so, everybody knows this." So what is the reason behind the success? I came up with a theory even though I may be wrong I will put it forward here. It is a disheartening postulate and I hope it isn't true but here it goes. There may be some, maybe quite a few people on this planet that did not realize that they were being spoon-fed liberal propaganda each night. I personally can't imagine anybody not realizing this, it would be truly sad to think so, but I am at a loss as to explain the rabid success of this book and some of the reviews that have been written here. While this may seem a simplistic theory I have no other ones to put forward. If this theory is correct than this book serves a very powerful purpose and it should be a New York Times Best Seller. So who should buy this book, it is for those who have doubts about the liberal bias in the media or if you do not know that there is liberal bias in the media. These individuals will gain much insight out of it and will of course start looking for some alternate news sources immediately. On the other hand if you look at the title and say "What's New" then you may be disappointed in this book, your money may be better spent elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: absorbing
Review: You know by now what this is all about. The detail is fascinating!. Although it's a quick read there is still plenty of food for thought.
Rating:
Summary: A Whistle Blower Gets Blown Away by CBS
Review: This book is a story of how a vetern CBS reporter wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal condemning the biased reporting in the media. His editorial created a firestorm which he recounts in this book by detailing the negative reponses from his collegues (Dan Rather, aka The Dan) and his eventual departure from CBS. Even though I love to hate the media for their biased reporting, after reading this book you have to conclude that Goldberg has an axe to grind and you are only getting one side of the story. In addition, you will find the book poorly organized and the logic Goldberg uses is often questionable, though his conclusions are usually right. Goldberg affirms his liberal political orientation in the book and in many ways, this enhances the fact that he is an insider. In Bias, you will learn some of the ways the media has distorted the news, not through a conspiracy, but by simply not being unaware that they are expressing their liberal views by the way they report the news. In other words, Goldberg makes the case that the media sees the left-wing position as reasonable and the only tenable one. Translated: they don't know any better. One thing is for sure: You will never look at Dan Rather the same way again. You might even stop watching CBS News altogether!
Rating:
Summary: Finally the truth!!
Review: Everyone that watches the news knows the liberal slant that exists. Finally Goldberg exposes the truth from inside the liberal press!! This book describes in detail the inner workings of stories that we all have heard, and how the newscasters create stories that they agree with, and not based in truth. Goldberg should be applauded by his own media, but instead they berate him for exposing the truth! It's no wonder the O'Reilly show is top-rated now because people are tired of the liberal press leading us down their mis-guided path!!
Rating:
Summary: Support for the Basic Definition of Journalism
Review: You may feel that watching the news on television can be likened to an indoctrination session where America's big 3 newsleaders, Rather, Brokaw and Jennings, are freely interpreting the news they are only supposed to be reporting. By listening to what they think and watching only what they deem important enough to air, we are being taught how we are supposed to think and act. The reality presented on TV is certainly not the real American reality.
In this book, insider Bernard Goldberg reveals that for years the elite, removed clique that runs television news has made it its business to pass their liberal slant on current issues as the middle of the road American point-of-view. Anytime an issue needs the backup of expert opinion, the conservative side of the story is always labeled by news journalists as 'conservative' or 'right-wing' while the liberal counterpart is introduced or cited with no prefacing label as if this opinion was considered the moderate or middle of the road stance. When Goldberg attempted to point out that true journalism meant merely reporting the news and not editorializing it by writing a op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal denouncing one newscasters inappropriate bias regarding a presidential candidates flat tax idea, he was chewed up so badly by his employer, CBS news, he eventually found himself out of a job.
Goldberg recounts the struggle he underwent with the moguls of CBS news, but even more interestingly, he informs us of certain big stories that are blown out of proportion by the media. Why? The networks work hand in hand with lobbying groups that they share views with and make sure their shared message gets across during prime time. On the other hand, certain really important stories and study outcomes are suppressed because the news media does not think their liberal-leaning backers really want to hear the real facts about some of the effects of their life decisions.
Bottom line? The news is an entertainment like all else on television. If it doesn't get the ratings, it doesn't get the advertisers. Advertisers won't pay if they are not reaching their audiences. The target audience consists of a small elite moneyed group whose profile is rather removed from that of the average American.
Mr. Goldberg presents his arguement clearly and fairly succinctly while he is being both brash and amusing. Reading this book is no chore, and it may enlighten those who have read it to form a campaign to demand 'Only the facts' from anyone who dares report it. Bernie, you go, guy!
Rating:
Summary: BREAKING NEWS!: JOURNALISTS ARE HUMAN BEINGS!-UNFORTUNATELY
Review: America is the only nation in the present world and the first and only nation in human history to have enshrined "Freedon of Speech and of The Press" in its Constitution (At least in the case of POLITICAL utterances--Religious dissent {especially agnosticism and atheism} and so-called: "Obscenity" are altogether different and largely unrelated issues). Most of the other nations upon this planet--and nearly ALL of the other major democracies--DO NOT subscribe to the notion that "The Public" has either a universal "Right-To-Know" about the workings and dealings of the state or an unlimited permission to question and criticize the government and its authority and policies (For example: Our "Mother-Country": Great Britain has both an Official Secrets Act and various "Anti-Terrorism" laws that grant to the government considerable latitude to define the meanings of "State-Secrets", "National Security", and "Terrorism", and, in the name "National Security", "Protecting State Secrets" and "Combatting Terrorism", to legally censor the press). Thus the question of alleged "Media Bias" MUST be considered within this context: The American Government is unique in the degree to which it allows itself to be scrutinized and criticized.
Permit me to state this with the utmost of emphasis: "MEDIA BIAS" IS A PSEUDO-ISSUE--A contrivance of the paranoia and megalomania of Richard Nixon during his war with the press (With the passage to time, I have come to regard The Watergate Scandal not as a "Constitutional Crisis"--THAT was a Media confabulation--but as a classically traditional internal power struggle between two factions of The American Establishment: The Nixon Administration and The Washington Post). As with other things--Such as the "Necessity" of "Political Ideology"--I fail to understand the "Problem" of "Media Bias"; thus I fail to comprehend Mr. Golberg's assertion--and the assertions that are contained within other similiar volumes that have been written by other "pundits" of his kind--that "Media Bias" is some outrageously terrible "BAD THING" (And the near-apocalyptically shrill timbre of this books was of no assistance to my comprehension: If one accedes to Mr. Golberg's premise, then one would be compelled to believe that the American people a flock of poor, good, and naive little lambs who are being lead-astray by The Big/Bad "Liberal-Media" Wolf). For many years, Stephen Jay Gould and Stephen Hawking have, in their written and spoken utterances, attested to the fact that supposedly objective science is a human endeavor, and this is fraught with all the flaws and failings of human nature; thus, it stands to reason that, if SCIENTISTS--Professional Objectivists--are but meagre and imperfect human beings, then why is it expected that JOURNALISTS are supposed to be able to transcend their human natures and personal prejudices and embody some mighty quality of perfect objectivity (I no more expect my journalists to be objective than I expect my politicians to be paragons-of-virtue; thus would someone/anyone care to explain to me why "Media Bias" is a "Problem" that supposedly "Threatens" the "Good" of The Commonwealth? {It seems to me that the term: "Media Bias" has evolved into a code-phrase for: "ALL-THOSE-THINGS-THAT-I-DON'T-LIKE-OR-AGREE-WITH-THEREFORE-DON'T-WANT-TO-SEE-OR-HEAR-OR-THINK-ABOUT"}). Americans are neither totally fools, nor are we at the "Mercy" of our "Media". "THE OBJECTIVE JOURNALIST" is not extinct, like the dinosaurs; rather, he is MYTHICAL, like the fire-breathing dragon. And Media Conglomerates are BUSINESSES, whose purpose is MAKING PROFITS; and, as always (Mr, Golberg, please take note), "BIAS--In its cutomary forms of contrived controversy, sensationalism, and hysteria--SELLS! (The true dilemma of "Media Bias" is not that journalists are promoting some "Liberal" agenda or that Media Corporations are spreading potentionally "Anti-American" propaganda, but that journalism has degenerated into just another form of entertainment).
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS UNBIASED MEDIA. And the use of "The Media" to promote propaganda is as old has human civilization (Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions consist mostly of extravagantly and elaborately obsequious hymns-of-praise to the glory of The Pharaoh's person and the majesty of his achievements). That which is truly annoying about this book--and all others of its kind--is Mr. Golberg's assertion that "Media Bias" is some terrible new phenomenon that has, in the manner of an evil spirit, suddenly "possessed" the journalists of America (Perhaps an "exorcism" is in order: CENSORSHIP, anyone?). In America, there was a William Randolph Hearst, a Joseph Pulitzer, and James Gordon Bennett long before there was a CNN, an MSNBC, and a FOXNEWS. There was the radical abolitionism of William Lloyd Garrison's THE LIBERATOR and the equally radical pro-slavery racism of Robert Barnwell Rhett's CHARLESTON MERCURY. And, if one wishes to venture back that far, there was the stalwart Federalism of Alexander Hamilton's NEW YORK POST and the staunch Anti-Federalism of Benjamin Franklin Bache's AURORA (And lest we forget: The scurrilous scandal-mongering of James Thomson Callender who accomplished the not inconsiderable feats of both being imprisoned for sedition for insulting President John Adams and slandering BOTH Alexander Hamilton AND Thomas Jefferson). BIAS?..SCMIAS!--Not only is "Media Bias" not new, it has a fine Old American Pedigree: It is, as they say, "As American as cherry pie!"
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