Rating: 
Summary: The BS in CBS
Review: Many Americans have believed for years that the major broadcast and print media are liberal-left biased, little more than house organs for the Democratic Party. Although there was plenty of proof, it took a media insider like Bernard Goldberg to blow the lid off the media's code of silence and expose the problem to public debate.Goldberg has written a book that describes how he finally came to his conclusion that the major media are thoroughly liberal-biased, and also recounts his professional persecution for telling the truth. His description of his experience makes for fascinating reading - I couldn't put the book down. In 1995, Goldberg watched a CBS news program about Steve Forbes' proposal for a flat tax to replace the income tax. The piece was so biased that Goldberg felt he had to speak out, and wrote an op-ed piece for the Wall Street Journal about the liberal bias in media. He hoped it would be a wake-up call to the Networks, a reality check. Instead, it was the beginning of the end of his career at CBS. After his opinion article appeared, Goldberg was taken off the air, socially ostracized at CBS, and denounced by media elites as a "traitor." Dan Rather, in response to questions about Goldberg's article, implied that Goldberg was a "political activist" with a "political agenda"...but Goldberg was a Democrat who had never voted for a Republican presidential candidate in his life. Even now, media spokesmen are trying to discount Goldberg's book "Bias" as a vindictive screed. It did not strike me that way at all. Goldberg explains that the leftwing bias in the media is not planned nor is it always deliberate. It exists because most humans see their perspectives as normal and others as variances from the norm. Not surprisingly, liberal media elites see liberal and leftwing politicians and institutions as "moderate" and liberal positions as not so much liberal as just reasonable and correct. Because they do not have to compete with alternative viewpoints, media moguls are blind to their own prejudices. What is needed to cure the problem is a greater diversity of viewpoints within the major media. Goldberg documents the media's liberal bias with convincing examples. For example, he describes the "homeless" issue, wherein "millions" of people were expected to become homeless. Network news analyses, however, greatly overstated the numbers of homeless and did not mention that 90% of the homeless were drug addicts, alcoholics or mentally ill. Instead, they implied that this mythical rising tide of homelessness was a result of Republican politics in the 1980s. The homeless problem immediately evaporated from network newscasts, however, about two seconds after Bill Clinton was sworn in as President. So much for unbiased news. Goldberg's book is a must read for anyone who wants to understand how the bias in network news works. I thoroughly enjoyed it and felt I gained new insights.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the biggest lies told in America today...
Review: The major media outlets are owned and administered by massive corporations, which are inherently conservative. For these corporations to allow any sort of left-wingery into their media organs would be tantamount to suicide. Of course, they don't stop at simply locking out progressive voices. By loudly perpetuating the myth of a liberal bias, they further strengthen their control over the public. It's a simple string of logic.
Rating: 
Summary: The media are biased?
Review: The fact that the media produces a plethora of victim stories, politically correct stories, and makes a special focus on special interest stories to the exclusion of "real" news will come as no shock to anyone. What is more shocking is that an insider like Goldberg finally got up in disgust and said "Ok, ENOUGH, already." What is less apparent in this book is what to do about it, other than not watch the evening broadcasts (which, according to the sophisticated ratings polls, is exactly what's happening.) It's interesting to get Goldberg's insider explanation on Peter Jenning's political thermometer and on the processes the higher-ups use to control what you see and hear. The sad thing is that it all works so well; Goebbels and the Big Lie have taught us that repeating something endlessly ultimately makes the vast majority believe in it, true or not. You at least owe it to yourself to see the processes that are used by the media to control information. Even if you are liberal in your philosophy, at least it is good to be an informed liberal and know what goes on, or is said to go on behind the scenes.
Rating:
Summary: Do we get the whole truth?
Review: Bias is a shockingly told account of a veteren CBS reporter and his experience in one of the newsrooms that shapes Americans impressions of the world around them. Showing the absolute bias of some of the heads of the news departments as well as their startling hypocrocy. In one anecdote the author tells about how one story about a young black mother was going to be cut until one staffer assured the person in chage that she was "Very Light Skinned" and in another incident the CBS news director is quoted as saying "All news is liberal biased, but if you quote me on that I'll deny it." This combination of racism, and pro-democratic party support masquarading as social liberalism is unbelieveable and those are just two examples of the kind of surprising facts that this book reveals. Who are these people that give us the news? They claim to give us the whole story free from censoring. This book shows that in the case of one large newsroom this is hardly the case. Highly recomended.
Rating:
Summary: Finally! Honesty from a member of the Fourth Estate!
Review: Bernard Goldberg has finally expressed, in a professional and knowledgeable way, what America has known for decades: that news reporting is biased and never tells the whole story. Many of us (myself included) sit and watch the evening news with a deaf ear these days. This is because we have grown weary of listening to the same old dialogue that rambles from the speakers every night. We hear about one thing or another, see clips from this place and that, but they all report only one side of the entire picture. In fact, over the years, watching the news has become similar to looking at the family picture with the color removed. There's no broad spectrum, no honest dialogue, no fairness. What we have been left with is the black-and-white discussions of "this is right" and "we can't talk about that". Unfortunately, the only ones who suffer from this are the American people. There is an old saying: "The story of a 12 year-old who kills his mother will be on page one, or will be the lead television news story. However, let a 12 year-old risk his life to save two or three younger kids; or one of his parents, and the story gets buried somewhere in the back of the newspaper; or a quick mention at the end of the broadcast followed by a very quick "good-night". That is, if it even gets a mention at all, which is most often the case. This is sad because not only does it fail to mention a newsworthy item, but it gives no incentive for our youth of today to DO good deeds and such. If a child sees all of the news stories covering violence and death, then they will come to understand that committing acts of this nature are the only way to gain attention. That attitude is far worse than any violence or language on television or elsewhere. "Bias" finally explains some of the reasons why this happens. It should also serve as a rallying cry for people to stand up to the Fourth Estate and tell them that the time has come for honest and fair reporting. I salute Mr. Goldberg for his candor on this subject, and for his diligence in bringing the truth to the attention of all.
Rating:
Summary: A must for every American!
Review: After I read this book, I ordered another copy. I loaned it out, and never expect to see the first copy again, because it is so very well written and beyond dispute. I have seen the leftist spin in the news for decades, so what this book does is to confirm the obvious; what you already know. But, it does this as an expose' of the leftist group-think that permeates news reporting to the point that the facts are lost behind a facade of spin, and ignoring important stories. What is as important is what is not reported, which Mr. Goldberg brilliantly exposes. Even if you are a leftist and hate what you know this book contains, read it. You may finally find the enlightenment that you speak of, but which you sorely lack.
Rating:
Summary: Very Educational
Review: This site has glitches, it repeats phrases as you will see-- it must have been written by a communist. That the author cannot understand why liberals should be so vicious in fighting the right is something I cannot understand, it is what America, deep down, is all about. One takes extreme positions and thumps the soapbox unto death.
But, I think liberals are wrong in opposing the right; wealthy people pay most of the taxes in America, they have a right to do what they want. They own this country. Liberals are wasting their time.
Rating: 
Summary: A Must-Read Book
Review: Everyone should read this book...Conservatives because it will bear out all you have been thinking and believing about the media...Liberals because you will learn something about the newsreaders you may admire and media sources you may believe. It's well-written, and easy to read and understand. I find it interesting that Mr. Goldberg, who says he has never voted Republican, can still look at the issues so objectively. he is right on the mark about the homeless and aids and how they have been used as propaganda by the mainstream media. My one complaint, which is why I give it only 4 stars instead of 5, is that there is no index...I consider that to be needed in any non-fiction book, particularly one that names names, networks and print media as this one does....Bernie gets 5 stars, but the book gets only 4.
Rating: 
Summary: The title should give it away
Review: In nearly 30 years in the news business, I have found that one constant remains: the definition of the word "bias." Every time I've heard a reader or interest group use the term, careful questioning always reveals that "bias" means just one thing: "Any opinion other than mine." No matter what they say in public, readers and viewers all too often don't want to hear both sides of an issue; they look at news mostly to hear their own views and prejudices justified. I wish I had a dollar for every time readers who held Viewpoint A called me to complain about stories that had even one quote from Viewpoint B because they felt that if I dared even include the opinion of the "wrong" side, I must be "biased" toward that side. Remember that if you pick a seat along the far right-hand wall of an auditorium, every other person in that room will be to the left of you. And vice versa. Reading other CBS insiders' views of Bernard Goldberg, it becomes obvious that in his later years he was constantly trying to slip an agenda of his own into his reporting -- and CBS editors were much more adroit at calling him on his own bias than ABC's are at reining in the extremely agenda-driven John Stossel. Goldberg's work contains far too many unattributed sources and far too few views of both sides of the story. His disgruntled ex-employee whining wouldn't even be admissible in court. My primary emotion upon reading this work was sadness, because this once-great reporter has decided in the sunset of his years that his only hope of remaining in the spotlight is to be idolized on talk radio and the Fox News Network. It reminded me of when a fading Muhammad Ali tried to be a wrestler in 1974. Bernie, there are at least two sides to every story, and you've ignored that bedrock journalistic principle. If your raw copy at CBS was anything like this book, your fall from favor at Black Rock is all too understandable.
Rating:
Summary: As if more evidence was needed ...
Review: Most people today have fairly shallow personal philosophies; typically a hodge-podge of conflicting beliefs selected according to which best matches their preconceptions. Shaping and installing such thoughts in hundreds of millions of people has been developed as something of an art form by modern U.S. media. Select which stories are news, which are not, determine the 'angle', then repeat, year-after-year. A miseducated public lacking strong intellectual and moral foundation is largely helpless. 30 years ago, who would have imagined Boy Scouts would be banned from schools that dispense condoms to children? Or that the nation would import from the 3rd world a nation the size of France in 10 years, setting up it's own eventual dissolution? And that criticizing such things is often considered a "hate crime". How were right and wrong inverted in less than a generation? Ask people what thought process they used to arrive at these beliefs and you basically get incoherent sound bytes accepted only because they mirror the elite. Before TV, few people were exposed to beliefs of intellectuals. Now they are guinea pigs in their livings rooms for TV news folks dedicated to creating a new reality. Modern leftism naturally has been the driver. It's opposition, Christian philosophy, considers people as spiritually designed in the image of God, then corrupted by their own free choice. Because of the existence of sin, Christians recognize human imagination and action is incapable of creating a perfect world -- Utopia -- with all of human history as evidence, if the secular still doesn't see it. (Most of what the Left calls "the Right" are actually just NATIONALISTIC utopians who think the perfect world can be achieved via 'my race' or 'my nation'. By contrast, the Left are INTERNATIONAL utopians. So Left and Right have the same thought processes and assumptions, just different implementations. Modern political philosophy really boils down to Christians as compared to "everyone else", with Christians incorrectly being lumped in with the Right, since they oppose the Left and seek things like decentralization of power to prevent concentration of it in a single person or state that is intrinsically corrupt. This seems like nationalism, but has different intent.) By contrast, the Left sees humans as mechanically derived chemical accidents; "sin" is an opinion, not reality. Anything wrong with the world is correctable if people could be educated to think "properly". Thus, the Left is naturally drawn to institutions concerned with shaping how other people think: education, entertainment, government, and of course the media. Their goal, once there, is to alter how others think. The assumption is this will result in a perfect world. People who don't share their ideas are evil because they argue against what the Left thinks will create Utopia. "Who could oppose this beautiful world I can imagine and not be evil?" is what they think, never examining their basic presuppositions about reality. Inevitably, the Left is composed of a multitude of factions, each operating off an internal imagining of what is needed to create a perfect world -- diversity, socialism, radical environmentalism, personally selectable genders, absolute sexual freedom, etc. So that's a little background on the Why's of the subject of bias as prelude to the book. If you can stomache any more on the topic of media bias after reading this book, I strongly recommend "The Gospel According to the New York Times : How the World's Most Powerful News Organization Shapes Your Mind and Values" by Proctor. CBS largely gets its take on the news from the New York Times; the NYT tells them what's important and what the angle is. This then gets reflected back and forth on TV. While TV news maybe shallow and reflexive in it's bias, the NYT engages in an organized attack on opposing world-views, seeking to replace them with its own. Both books together will provide a powerful indictment of the devastatingly negative effect of these self-appointed definers of what is important.
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