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Summary: A thought-provoking and sharply written account
Review: What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias And The News by media columnist Eric Alterman is a close and critical survey and analysis of crucial questions for the information age ranging from whose interests does the media strive to protect?; to "Is bias in the media keeping the public from the whole story?". The most stringent criticism of the media has generally come from the political Right, claiming that the media has a strong bias to the Left - yet journalist and historian Eric Alterman offers his own take on the conflicting forces of media bias -- including strong forces of conservative bias that are all too often overlooked. Highly recommended reading for students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in American journalism and the issue of media-bias, What Liberal Media? is a thought-provoking and sharply written account.
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Summary: The Liberal Style
Review: This book suffers from telling the truth. You see, the truth is not funny or "entertaining" as Limbaugh says it. It, however, much more deserving of the label of excellence than anything written by Coulter, Goldberg, Limbaugh, Savage or any other of the well-paid conservative subversives ( and they are subversive). This book shows how the media is controlled by the right. It shows, in detail, incident after incident of conservative/fascist media language, selection, distortion and propaganda. As one who has worked in the media on politics for over 2 decades I can say, unequivocaly, this is a must read. While it has an agenda, the author's points are well researched. The book will not be an easy read and the reviews, even on this site, will be negative because the conservatives are well organzied--and poorly read and educated. I hope there are some out there that recognize truth when they read it.
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Summary: A very important book
Review: Eric Alterman has written a detailed and in-depth book that devestates the ridiculous assertion that there is a liberal bias in the media. I was impressed with the research the author has done and the facts he presents. He does an excellent job exposing conservatives for who they really are, thier agenda, and the lengths they will go to misrepresent the truth and get thier way. I was especially impressed with the chapters about the 2000 election and Florida. This is a much needed antidote to the hate-filled poison spewing from conservative authors these days. Read this book; it will expose you to the truth. Be warned, however, the truth can be scary--but it will set you free.
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Summary: And if you believe this...
Review: As the old saying goes: "Figures lie and liers figure". This book has lots of facts that the writer stacks to prove his point--just like Johnny Cochran. Even as a life-long Democrat I wasn't convinced. Don't waste your time reading this book.
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Summary: These reviews demonstrate the problem
Review: America is in big trouble right now. We are becoming so polarized that we cannot talk to each other anymore. The person who is right is the person who can scream the loudest and/or be the most insulting. And I have to say the conservatives seem to be the best at being right in this way. They have God on one shoulder and Thomas Jefferson on the other. How can you possibly say anything against that? If you opposed or questioned the war, which hardly any media did by the way, particularly after it got started, you were not a true American, were unpatriotic, were not supporting the troops, etc. During the last presidential election, I would listen to hours and hours of talk radio (not because I wanted to! A co-worker claimed a God-given right to listen to the "truth" all day.) that made no attempt to be fair, explore issues, etc. It was simply Reublican advertising that I assume they didn't have to pay for, at least directly. Clinton/Gore bashing was an hysterical obsession. Now if anyone had nerve to bash Bush for hours and hours all day long, he or she would be pilloried, again as unamerican. (Thankfully, the very idea of it would bore most liberals--can we still say that word in polite company?--to death.) We're at war. See how that works? I've come to believe it's more important at this time that we learn to listen to each other than that we all be right. I've been listening to my conservative friends and ,frankly, their tirades recently. With an understanding smile on my face. Then I snuck home and secretly read this book. Thank God for "guilty" pleasures.
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Summary: He tells the truth in an age of lies and deception by right
Review: The right wing owns America, and Alterman is the only one telling the truth about how the media is controlled by right wing corporations and megagiants directly tied to the Bush administration. He uses tons of facts and real information, not just gushing mumbo jumbo like Ann Coulter, who actually LIES in her book, or BIAS, which lists a lot of fals information and outright lies. This is the real deal, folks, and it is scary as [heck]. Liberals haven't ruled the media for awhile, despite what the right wing media shills would like you to believe.
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Summary: Boo Hoo
Review: Once again, a collection of written chatter that is supposed to make some sense. To whom? I wish that so called journalists could learn to stop when they are ahead. My hope was to finally read an objective view on the media and not some paranoid filled comments strung together...forever. Alterman comes off as a whiner using juvenile statements and twisted half-truths to make his "facts" stand up. I'm just glad that I borrowed the book from a friend (poor guy) and didn't shell out the [cash].I do recommend it as a decent "fiction" book though!
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Summary: Liberal media myth debacled
Review: Eric Alterman argues in his book, what many of us have noticed for years. A pervasive loud conservative voice all over the media. Unlike Goldberg's "Biased", this is a well researched book and wonderfully presented for the reader to judge for himself.
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Summary: Read them all
Review: I've just finished Alterman, Goldberg, and have 40 pages left in Coulter. What's my advice if you're looking for the "truth"? Read them all.Is there bias in the media's political and social coverage? You betcha. Is it both conservative and liberal? Yep. And is there also plenty of "entertainment" that panders and/or leans in either direction? Of course (but barely touched in any of the three). What this book does is provide a tool to recognize one direction of bias slant, in a readable, comprehensive and pretty convincing package. But I also find that Goldberg's theory of network news' liberal bias, at least on social issues, remains plausible. And Coulter's not just funny in a slanderous kind of way, she's also correct in her attack on the NY Times (the only paper I consistently read) as socially liberal masquerading as mainstream. (Ignore the business section. In that respect all media is obviously "conservative." But the various Style sections are not just liberal - they're radically un-mainstream. Maybe that's "balanced" reporting?) By the way, anyone else notice that both Alterman and Coulter are Cornell grads? So much for conspiratorial university unanimity.
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Summary: An obvious liberal drift since the Great Depression
Review: This is a contemptuously manipulative book indeed. The author gives 250 pages of examples of conservative media bias and no examples of liberal bias as if to trick us into believing that, overall, there is a huge conservative bias. Everyone who is a conservative has long know this is an obvious lie, and surveys, like those in "Bias" by Goldberg, and many others, have long shown that media personal have always admited to this. And, this is not to mention the obvious: Gov't has grown dramatically and steadily more liberal since the Depression precisely because of liberal bias in the media.
So why would the author want us to think there is a conservative bias in the news when the exact opposite is true? Answer: the author is an extreme socialistc (who writes for The Nation) for whom the leftward liberal drift of the country is not moving nearly fast enough. In this case the manipulation is obvious when you know the bias of the author.
I would recommend the book "Bias" if you want to read a simple and honest description of liberal media bias from a 28 year liberal veteran of the liberal media. And, more importantly, I would recommend "Understanding The Difference between Democrats And Republicans" so you can figure out, all by yourself, what the bias in the media is.
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