Rating: 
Summary: An important book that should be read beyond the USA
Review: Goldberg has produced an important book that points out the biases in the media that we have long suspected. He covers, race, Israel, gender politics and political bias in the media in a very readable easy going style. Of course, others could, and have, written books on the media's left wing bias, but the power of Goldberg is that he is an insider and cannot so easily be refuted. To be fair he does seem to have a thing for the airhead, Dan Rather, and takes shots at him throughout the book. So be it. It increases the fun without detracting from the books important message. Unfortunately, the book is only about the US media - after all that's what Goldberg (and most of you reading this) know. But as I said Bias is an important book. It cries out for a sequel that takes on the global scene. The Canadian Bias Corporation (where I live) and the British Bias Corporation (where I lived) provide exactly the same nightly bias as CBS etc. But with one important addition. The same left wing bias is used to constantly knock America. (By the way not a word in the media about this book in Canada.) The message is clear: America is unsophisticated, poorly educated, with a dimwit gun toting president, war mongerers, greedy capitalists, etc. You can imagine the rest. Even right wing friends of mine in Britain are anti-American because of the left wing bias. This stuff gets to you, you know. And continental Europe is worse! Come on Mr Goldberg what about a sequel? You have started an important debate that needs to be extended beyond the vacuum of 'The Dan'. You have highlighted a world wide malady that needs to be exposed.
Rating: 
Summary: obviously
Review: Well, of course, there is a liberal bias in the media. There is a liberal bias in almost everything from music to fiction to history to entertainment to science, etc. Our history has been one of liberals pushing new definitions of culture, new forms of scientific knowledge, new types of historical analysis onto conservatives who, by definition, are people who don't like change and who cling to the past, seeking to conserve what they already have. Without liberals, we would never advance. Without conservatives, we would advance much faster. As for this book, my goodness but Mr Goldberg has a lot of axes to grind, doesn't he. I have to wonder why he stuck around in the liberal media biz for 30+ years when, during all that time, he felt so out of place and disagreed so much with what network executives wanted from him. Why didn't he move to radio and do the Rush thing if he was so incensed with Dan Rather and his other colleagues and their "slant" on the news? I also wonder why he thinks that any human being, let alone a news organization, can be completely subjective about the news. Or why conservatives are so convinced that their's is the mainstream voice and that anything that deviates from their particular worldview is "biased."
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Summary: This book is a joke
Review: I can summarize my opinion in few words..."Best defense is a good offense ".The author is criticizing how biased the media is while himself is writing biased and distorted facts in his book !
Rating: 
Summary: Why Did He Include That One Stupid Remark?
Review: Bernard Goldberg is not delivering any earth-shattering news with the publication of this best-selling expose. Anyone imbued with even a shred of common sense knows that the major news media are prone to a liberal bias. Think only of much-married Peter Jennings disdainful description of the American voters after 1994's elections returned both houses of Congress to Republican control, "The Washington Post" objectively reporting that Christians are "largely poor, uneducated, and easy to command," Time Magazine's cover photo asking "How Mean Will Newt be," and countless other incidents that have shown a liberal bias to be irrefragably instituted in the world of high-caliber journalism. What makes this work so potent is that it represents perhaps the first significant fissure in the media's code of silence. Bernard Goldberg spent nearly three decades as a well-respected, 6-time Emmy-winning insider at CBS News. Furthermore, he is an unabashed liberal in the truest sense of the word. Within these pages he confesses to having never voted for a Republican president, supporting gay rights, and believes "welfare is absolutely essential"--not the typical ravings of your average vast right wing conspirator. Despite his political leanings, he never abandoned a sense of fairness and a devotion to balance--a benchmark of genuine liberalism. As a media player, he was privy to the unadulterated bias firsthand and shares much of the shocking evidence he accumulated over the years. Authentic examples include taking a nationwide network conference call where one producer stoically termed Gary Bauer "that little nut from the Christian Group" to the constant labeling of "conservative" while never branding "liberal." He also describes how alleged "factual" reporting of certain issues like AIDS and homelessness regularly borders more on mythology than reality. Mr. Goldberg understands the value of using sarcasm appropriately, and at times while accentuating his point, his narration becomes uproariously funny. Reviewing impeachment coverage, he recalls how Peter Jennings talking over a group of senator referred to every Republican as very conservative, rather conservative etc. but did make similar remarks about the Democrats (liberal or very liberal.) He honestly and humorous suggests that "there's a better chance that Peter Jennings, the cool sophisticated Canadian would identify Mother Teresa as 'the old broad who used to work in India'" then suggest a liberal may be ideology-inclined. In another instance he writes "Meredith Vieira of 'the View' went to Shea Stadium to make a jackass out of herself." Considering the sleazy, irrelavent questions she asked Mets' players, his description could be somewhat of an understatement. The liberal elites'odium toward those who dare not toe the line was made crystal clear to the author when Rush Limbaugh started singing his praises. As he half-jokingly reveals "I would have been better off if Saddam Hussein, O.J. Simpson, and Charles Manson had held a joint news conference to tell the world what a great guy I was." Unfortunately this important work is gravely diminished by one incredibly imbecilic aside. In an intelligent chapter devoted to important issues that generate scant media coverage, Mr. Goldberg begins by reviewing certain stories that metastasized into media circuses. He rightly scoffs at non-issues like Joey Buttafucco, Lorena Bobbitt, and Tonya Harding, and justifiably--if callously-- includes Jon Benet Ramsey, Chandra Levy, and Nicole Brown-Simpson. While these stories were tragic, media coverage exploited them and made mountains out what--on a newsworthy level-- were little more than molehills. However, seemingly desperate to emulate Meredith Vieira, he incorporated the Elian Gonzalez travesty in this category of stories. How an obviously intelligent news professional can view a story where the U.S. Government's highest-ranking officials stole a page from the nazis' playbook and obliterated all Constitutional rubrics as trivial is almost beyond comprehension. The fact that he presented such a ridiculous point in a chapter on underreported serious stories further stretches credulity. Had he mentioned that salient aspects of the story were ignored in very superficial coverage, he could have enhanced his argument, but such a preposterous proposition inflicts severe damage on the articulate case he laid out throughout this otherwise clearheaded book. Dan Rather who now seethes at the mere mention of Mr. Goldberg's name and the other media movers and shakers furious that their secret is out would do well to quote this reference in attacking the author's credibility. "Bias" is definitely worth a read, but that one idiotic off-the-cuff statement greatly reduces the luster from what otherwise would have been a journalistic classic.
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Summary: He misses the point...
Review: Goldberg does well to point out the liberal bias of the news media. Indeed, members of the media are more likely to be of a liberal persuasion than the general population. But the fact of the matter is that educated urban people, who pay attention to the world around them, ie the type of people who make up the news media, are by their very nature likely to be liberal. There is no vast liberal conspiracy behind the scenes. The essence of liberal values is a belief in the freedom of the expression of different ideas. Of course the media, who are engaged in the dissemenination of information as their career, would lean to the left. The real scandal is how conservative our definition of "liberal" has become in this country. If Goldberg looked outside this country, he would surely see just how much further the media in Europe goes toward the left.
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Summary: Too much of a rant about Goldberg versus Jennings
Review: While it is understandable that the author of this book, Bernard Goldberg, had to explain why he and Peter Jennings, stopped speaking to one another, too much of the early chapters in this book seem devoted to a personal rant about Jenning's shortcomings. This dilutes the real message in the book - that the news has a bias toward liberal issues and slanted reporting at the expense of anything approaching objectivity. By the time I got to Chapter 3, I was tired of reading attacks on Jennings and was hungry for more information and real examples of biased reporting. Isn't this what the book was supposed to be about? Instead, Goldberg comes across as someone with an ax to grind - mostly against Jennings.
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Summary: Crying All The Way To The Bank
Review: Poor put-upon Mr Goldberg. While arguing that the "left" has highjacked the news, he gets on every talk show and forum there is. 1984 anyone?
Rating:
Summary: Shocking but great
Review: This book is for those crybaby liberals who plead innocence in controlling our media. You may be very surprised to hear how we have been manipulated for years, with the media only telling us what they want us to know, and censoring items that show their true colors. Every media and history buff should read this book.
Rating:
Summary: Garbage
Review: This book is ridiculous. Yes, there are some liberals in the media, and once in a while they might make a questionable decision because they are biased. But there are plenty of conservatives in the media as well; in fact, the media is largely owned by large corporations and rich right-wing individuals (e.g., Rupert Murdoch). Goldberg spends about a third of the book complaining about how he was unfairly canned from CBS and explaining his hatred for Dan Rather. Who cares? By the way, an independent check on several of the news stories that Goldberg cites in this book indicate that he is not entirely on the level. But maybe I just read that in the biased, liberal media.
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Summary: Nothing We Did Not Already Know
Review: Yes, we have all known, for quite some time, that the major news media in this country is biased towards the left. Anyone who denies this either works for these people, or had his head firmly where the sun does not shine. The thing that makes Goldberg's book so compelling is precisely that it was NOT written by someone from the Right. Rather, it was written by someone - a self-professed liberal - who works in the trenches and did not like what he sees, and who can not be silent about the goings-on behind the scenes no longer. Does Bernie have some anger to deal with? Of course. You would, too, if you were treated as he was. But, don't make the mistake of thinking that this book is all about him. It's not. It's about the business he used to work in. This is not just a personal rant - there is TONS of documentation to back up Goldberg's claims. Tons of it. One thing the left is good at - if it doesn't like what someone says it never - NEVER - disputes the facts. It attacks the messenger - his character, his veracity, his cerdibility. Read the negative reviews here and see if that doesn't hold true. This book is a must-read by anyone who cares about the truth, and how and why the major media players daily distort that truth to fit it into their world-view.
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