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Bias (book)
Encyclopedia
Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News is a non-fiction
book by Bernard Goldberg
, a 28-year veteran CBS
news reporter and producer, giving detailed examples of what he calls liberal bias
in television news reporting. It was published in 2001 by Regnery Publishing
.
, who said that the news media divides America into "moderates and right-wing nuts."
Goldberg wrote critically of Dan Rather
, whom he worked with at CBS News
. Rather, he suggested, believes that colleagues who complain are like Spiro Agnew
. He mentioned something Dan told him: “Bernie, we were friends yesterday, we’re friends today, and we’ll be friends tomorrow.”
Goldberg introduced Jerry Kelley, a friend, who worked on his Florida
home in 1992 during Hurricane Andrew
. Jerry complained about a Reality Check report Eric Engberg
did for the CBS Evening News
. The piece was snarkingly critical of a flat tax
proposal by Steve Forbes
, a then candidate in the 1996 Presidential Elections.
After seeing the report, Goldberg agreed that the piece was slanted and unfair to Forbes' proposal. He called it "Junk Journalism". Enberg used terms like "wacky" and "scheme" to describe the proposal. Goldberg attributed it to liberalism
's “need to wage class warfare.” He cited Bob Woodward
quoting Paul Begala
's speaking of the rich: "Fuck them". Goldberg response: "Karl Marx
couldn't have said it better."
Goldberg complained to executives about the Enberg report but met hesitation. Jeff Fager
was "too cool" about the situation. Andrew Heyward
said about Dan Rather, "If anyone around here ever takes Dan on, he’ll find a way to get even."
, who described Goldberg's claims as “Weird...Wacky...Bizarre”.
Goldberg wrote that his media critics used a tactic of protecting their own by attacking their accuser. He suggested that the May 1995 firing of Connie Chung
was orchestrated by an insecure Dan Rather. Rather, he wrote, derided Chung as a "second-rate journalist" when she covered the Oklahoma City Bombing
before him. He implied that Rather was upset that Chung was getting more air time on the day of the bombing.
The problem with the 'media elites', Goldberg argues, is groupthink
. He compared the news media to John Podhoretz
's summary of New Yorkers: "[they] ... can easily go through life never meeting anybody who has a thought different from their own."
. One quote from 1993, when Heyward was the executive producer of Eye to Eye, hosted by Connie Chung
. Heyward supposedly admitted the networks are biased, saying he would deny it were Goldberg to mention this in public, "... Of course there's a liberal bias in the news... If you repeat any of this, I'll deny it."
Goldberg's February 1996 Wall Street Journal op-ed
criticized Eric Enberg's report piece and the media's liberal bias. Goldberg was criticized and praised.
He mentioned a few of his supporters:
and joined CBS News
in 1972.
To prove his thesis
about a liberal bias in the news media, he wrote about Harry Smith (television)
. In 1981, Smith co-hosted CBS This Morning. He identified “conservative” Phyllis Schlafly
and “noted law professor Catharine Mackinnon
...” without stating Mackinnon's liberal leanings. Golberg summed it up: “In the world of the [Peter] Jenningses and [Tom] Brokaws and [Dan]Rathers, conservatives are out of the mainstream and need to be identified ... That which is right of center is conservative. That which is left of center is middle of the road.”
Susan Zirinsky worked on CBS Evening News
and 48 Hours
”.
“She didn’t conspire with anyone to freeze out conservative women. She just thought NOW
was the logical place to go [in getting quotes about women’s issues].”
were exaggerated to the millions of homeless in the US.
Candy Crowley
(CNN
). Jackie Nespral
(NBC
), Charles Osgood
(CBS
), Ray Brady
(CBS) did reports on the “hidden homeless”.
Gina Kolata
did an article about the main cause of homelessness: “drug(s) and alcohol”
Goldberg: “For reporters who were too young to cover the great civil rights
struggle of the 1960s, the homeless story twenty years later was the next best thing.” He argued that during the 1980s, Ronald Reagan
was seen as the cause of homelessness. Then homelessness decreased during Bill Clinton
's Administration because such stories received less media coverage.
activists worked to scare the hell out of America to get attention. If the general public continued to believe that the victims were limited to gay
men or (drug addicts), he wrote, the activists were concerned that no one would care. This led to a $5 million Federal ad campaign: “AIDS doesn’t discriminate.”
Goldberg used a study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs
:
Goldberg: “Unlike … cancer and heart disease, AIDS had civil rights. ‘How did you get it?’ was considered an uncivil question ... Only AIDS is shrouded in political correctness
.” Reporters let their compassion get in the way of their reporting. In 1992, “48 Hours” did a story on “The Killer Next Door”: “Scaring the hell out of people makes for good TV, even when it makes for shallow journalism …”
Randy Shilts
—“And the Band Played On
”
Lisa McGuirk—“48 Hours” Producer
producers were hesitant about using stories that featured Black criminals. As an example, Goldberg wrote about a 1995 CBS News story about Alabama’s governor, Fob James
, reestablishing chain gangs. Larry Doyle, an ex-Marine
Captain, Diana Gonzales, and Al Berman worked on the story.
In 1999, Brill's Content did a story on Gannett’s newspapers. It required reporters at all 75 papers to include minorities in their stories.
In September 1995, Hurricane Marilyn affected St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
. CBS News did a story produced by Larry Doyle. There was looting and the weekend producer, Raylena Fields, complained that all the looters were Black. Fields is a Black woman.
Shelby Steele
: “I think white guilt, in its broad sense, springs from a knowledge of ill-gotten advantage...”
Liberal Elites “are not generous at all. They’re quite selfish.” They distort images to ease their own pain.
became angrier when Rush Limbaugh
gave support on his radio and TV shows. Emily Rooney
also got support from Limbaugh. Rooney was once the Executive Producer for ABC's World News Tonight. In a TV Guide
article, she criticized the media for its “liberal vision”.
Don Hewitt
supposedly told Andrew Heyward
about Bernard Goldberg
: “I don’t want him anywhere on the 9th floor.”
Goldberg stated that Michael Gartner
, former President of NBC News
, gave indirect support and friendly advice to CBS. He recalled speaking to Jon Klein, Executive Vice President of CBS News, on February 21, 1996, days after the Wall Street Journal article.
“[CBS News will use] All the big guns in its arsenal … [if you act against us in public].”
Goldberg: “Jon was Al Pacino
playing Michael [from the Godfather
]. The calm one. The smart one ... an Ivy League
guy.”
Dan Rather told Tom Snyder
during a February 8, 1995 interview: “It’s one of the great political myths about press bias ..."
Sally Quinn
: “We [the press] all think differently”. The Freedom Forum and the Paper Center.
Roxanne Russell: CBS News Washington Bureau producer. “Gary Bauer
, the little nut from the Christian group.” Said during a conference call from Miami on April 14, 1999.
Ted Turner
on Christianity: “[the religion] is for losers”. During Ash Wednesday
2001, at the CNN
bureau in Washington, DC. “Jesus Freaks”.
“as affable a feminist you’ll ever meet ...” Smith interviewed Dennis Quaid
who was promoting Something to Talk About
. Smith: “I’m under the assumption that most men are putzes ...” (Putz = “Jerk”)
In the summer of 1999 NAACP President Kweisi Mfume
, said that TV was “the most segregated industry in the US.” He complained that the upcoming fall network schedule had shows with few minorities.
A la James Carville
's “It’s the economy, stupid!”, Goldberg stated that it's not racism, but profit that explains why there are so few minorities on TV. He referred to BET
founder, Robert L. Johnson
, who argued that White audiences are more profitable. “The more middle class white people the better”. (According to Goldberg, Johnson, a Black man, said what many White network executives would not.)
Goldberg: “Top producers and executives for news, didn’t want” blacks for the same reasons as the entertainment divisions: less revenue.
published a study in Policy Review
titled “Home Alone America”. It states: “The increasing absence from home of biological mothers — effectively increases the access of would be predators ... Part of the reason that children in both societies do so well (Japan and Korea) on international tests has to do with the investments their mothers make in their educations.”
Goldberg believed the study did not get mainstream news attention out of “a fear of being seen as hostile to women-as-underdog-working-mothers. It is that the media elites will not take on feminist[s] ... ‘Those gals [TV female colleagues] got a dog in this fight.’ As Dan might put it. They’re defending themselves.” When something is “controversial” — the media person disagrees with it. To parlay the guilt of working moms — study shows 17% if kids in day care for 30+ hours weekly are aggressive.
Many Eberstadt: “Many [women] work outside the home; they prefer it that way.”
Goldberg compiles a list of “Notable Quotables” from the Media Research Center
, about offensive quotes from noted liberals in the media speaking about Republicans or Conservatives.
Julianne Malveaux
-(USA Today
and Pacifica
), spoke of Clarence Thomas
.
Nina Totenberg
—(NPR
and ABC News
) — Jesse Helms
Evan Thomas
- (Newsweek
), spoke of Paula Jones
.
Linda Chavez
—The Center for Equal Opportunity—“Linda ... and at your age, being raped—sorry.”
Bonnie Erbe
—(NBC Radio, Mutual Reporter)
Bernard Goldberg: “As far as I’m concerned, the 3 people Bill [O’Reilly] owes so much of his success are Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather.” Goldberg interviewed O'Reilly in December 2000. O’Reilly said, "[viewers]...perceive Rather and those guys as being Left, but even more, they see them as being elitist, not being in touch with them.”
Roger Ailes
wrote in New York Times Magazine (June 2001): “There are more conservatives at Fox. But we are not a conservative network. That disparity says far more about the competition.”
Bill O'Reilly
: “You don’t see an articulate spokesman who’s pro-life
on the network evening news. They’d rather show someone who just blew up an abortion clinic ... It’s the last days of Pompeii
. They’re desperately trying to hold on. They see smoke.”
John Leo
: “Journalists tend to feel that bigotry is widespread in America, and they are primed to see it quickly when their counterparts in the lobbying world send in their reports. This explains why stories about alleged racial slurs among Texaco
executives and the wave of church bombings in the South were still being framed as bias news long after the evidence showed that this framing was wrong ... It’s one reason why there are so few people who trust the press.”
: “In an ‘entertainment culture,” even the news is entertainment.”
Golberg said that following the Oklahoma City Bombing
, it took the media elites a few days to connect the attack to the Republican Party
, and conservatives
, including Rush Limbaugh
.
Bernard wrote that the press does not want to put the underdogs in a bad light. In the case of the Palestinians, for example, the media does not report much on Arab
anti-Semitism
.
He criticized journalists for trying to create “Moral Equivalence” and “Pro-Moral Equivalence” in their news coverage.
Commentary Magazine. Fiamma Nirenstein
: “... there is a subtle form of racism at work here. The Arabs, it is implicitly suggested, are a backward people not to be held to the civilized standards of the West.”
Goldberg wrote about his August 11, 1998 meeting with Jeff Fager
about being a 60 Minutes II
correspondent. He wrote that Fager brought up the WSJ article and stated that it would not influence his decision. (Goldberg wondered to himself: Then why the fuck did you bring it up for!) On September 15, 1998, he learned of his rejection, and felt that he was still being punished for the article. Goldberg decided to leave CBS
and asked to stay until May 31, 2000, when his “pension kicked in”.
Goldberg describes the evening news as television's version of elevator music.
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
book by Bernard Goldberg
Bernard Goldberg
Bernard Richard Goldberg , also known as Bernie Goldberg, is an eleven-time Emmy Award-winning American writer, journalist, and political commentator...
, a 28-year veteran CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
news reporter and producer, giving detailed examples of what he calls liberal bias
Media bias in the United States
Media bias in the United States occurs when the media in the United States systematically presents a particular point of view. Claims of media bias in the United States include claims of liberal bias, conservative bias, mainstream bias, and corporate bias...
in television news reporting. It was published in 2001 by Regnery Publishing
Regnery Publishing
Regnery Publishing in Washington, D.C., is a publisher which specializes in conservative books characterized on their website as "contrary to those of 'mainstream' publishers in New York." Since 1993, Regnery Publishing has been a division of Eagle Publishing, which also owns the weekly magazine...
.
"They Think You're a Traitor"
Bernard Goldberg argues that the mainstream news media has a liberal bias. He argues that these journalists don't see their views as "liberal", but "merely reasonable and civilized". He quotes Roger AilesRoger Ailes
Roger Eugene Ailes is president of Fox News Channel, chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group. Ailes was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W...
, who said that the news media divides America into "moderates and right-wing nuts."
Goldberg wrote critically of Dan Rather
Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9,...
, whom he worked with at CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
. Rather, he suggested, believes that colleagues who complain are like Spiro Agnew
Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...
. He mentioned something Dan told him: “Bernie, we were friends yesterday, we’re friends today, and we’ll be friends tomorrow.”
1. The News Mafia
Goldberg introduced “Dan-ish”. When Dan Rather says “it’s my fault”, he means “It’s your fault”. Goldberg implied the difficulty of working with Rather, stating that there has been a Vice President “in Charge of Dan” at CBS since the 1980’s.Goldberg introduced Jerry Kelley, a friend, who worked on his Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
home in 1992 during Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States, after the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 and Hurricane Camille in 1969. Andrew was the first named storm and only major hurricane of the otherwise inactive 1992 Atlantic hurricane season...
. Jerry complained about a Reality Check report Eric Engberg
Eric Engberg
-Life:Engberg attended Highland Park High School in Highland Park, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism....
did for the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
. The piece was snarkingly critical of a flat tax
Flat tax
A flat tax is a tax system with a constant marginal tax rate. Typically the term flat tax is applied in the context of an individual or corporate income that will be taxed at one marginal rate...
proposal by Steve Forbes
Steve Forbes
Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes, Jr. is an American editor, publisher, and businessman. He is the editor-in-chief of business magazine Forbes as well as president and chief executive officer of its publisher, Forbes Inc. He was a Republican candidate in the U.S. Presidential primaries in 1996...
, a then candidate in the 1996 Presidential Elections.
After seeing the report, Goldberg agreed that the piece was slanted and unfair to Forbes' proposal. He called it "Junk Journalism". Enberg used terms like "wacky" and "scheme" to describe the proposal. Goldberg attributed it to liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
's “need to wage class warfare.” He cited Bob Woodward
Bob Woodward
Robert Upshur Woodward is an American investigative journalist and non-fiction author. He has worked for The Washington Post since 1971 as a reporter, and is currently an associate editor of the Post....
quoting Paul Begala
Paul Begala
Paul Edward Begala is an American political consultant and political commentator. He was an adviser to President Bill Clinton. Begala was a chief strategist for the 1992 Clinton-Gore campaign, which carried 33 states and made Clinton the first Democrat to win the White House in sixteen years...
's speaking of the rich: "Fuck them". Goldberg response: "Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
couldn't have said it better."
Goldberg complained to executives about the Enberg report but met hesitation. Jeff Fager
Jeff Fager
Jeff Fager is the Chairman of CBS News and the Executive Producer of 60 Minutes, the hour-long CBS news magazine created in 1968.-Career:...
was "too cool" about the situation. Andrew Heyward
Andrew Heyward
Andrew Heyward is a former President of CBS News, serving from January 1996 until early November 2005. Currently, he is a Senior Advisor to Marketspace LLC, Monitor Group's digital media practice, where he works with clients to create and strengthen original online content, make more effective use...
said about Dan Rather, "If anyone around here ever takes Dan on, he’ll find a way to get even."
2. Mugged by “the Dan”
On February 12, 1996, Goldberg informed Rather of a critical piece he wrote in the Wall Street Journal, of the media having a liberal bias. Rather's reaction: “I’m getting viscerally angry about this.” Rather was among many critics of the article, including Bob SchiefferBob Schieffer
Bob Lloyd Schieffer is an American television journalist who has been with CBS News since 1969, serving 23 years as anchor on the Saturday edition of CBS Evening News from 1973 to 1996; chief Washington correspondent since 1982, moderator of the Sunday public affairs show Face the Nation since...
, who described Goldberg's claims as “Weird...Wacky...Bizarre”.
Goldberg wrote that his media critics used a tactic of protecting their own by attacking their accuser. He suggested that the May 1995 firing of Connie Chung
Connie Chung
Connie Chung, full name: Constance Yu-Hwa Chung Povich is an American journalist who has been an anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC. Some of her more famous interview subjects include Claus von Bülow and U.S...
was orchestrated by an insecure Dan Rather. Rather, he wrote, derided Chung as a "second-rate journalist" when she covered the Oklahoma City Bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
before him. He implied that Rather was upset that Chung was getting more air time on the day of the bombing.
The problem with the 'media elites', Goldberg argues, is groupthink
Groupthink
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within groups of people. It is the mode of thinking that happens when the desire for harmony in a decision-making group overrides a realistic appraisal of alternatives. Group members try to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without...
. He compared the news media to John Podhoretz
John Podhoretz
John Podhoretz is an American neoconservative columnist for the New York Post, the editor of Commentary magazine, the author of several books on politics, and a former presidential speechwriter.-Life and career:...
's summary of New Yorkers: "[they] ... can easily go through life never meeting anybody who has a thought different from their own."
4. "The Emperor is Naked"
Goldberg recounts his many conversations with Andrew HeywardAndrew Heyward
Andrew Heyward is a former President of CBS News, serving from January 1996 until early November 2005. Currently, he is a Senior Advisor to Marketspace LLC, Monitor Group's digital media practice, where he works with clients to create and strengthen original online content, make more effective use...
. One quote from 1993, when Heyward was the executive producer of Eye to Eye, hosted by Connie Chung
Connie Chung
Connie Chung, full name: Constance Yu-Hwa Chung Povich is an American journalist who has been an anchor and reporter for the U.S. television news networks NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, and MSNBC. Some of her more famous interview subjects include Claus von Bülow and U.S...
. Heyward supposedly admitted the networks are biased, saying he would deny it were Goldberg to mention this in public, "... Of course there's a liberal bias in the news... If you repeat any of this, I'll deny it."
Goldberg's February 1996 Wall Street Journal op-ed
Op-ed
An op-ed, abbreviated from opposite the editorial page , is a newspaper article that expresses the opinions of a named writer who is usually unaffiliated with the newspaper's editorial board...
criticized Eric Enberg's report piece and the media's liberal bias. Goldberg was criticized and praised.
He mentioned a few of his supporters:
- John StosselJohn StosselJohn F. Stossel is an American consumer reporter, investigative journalist, author and libertarian columnist. In October 2009 Stossel left his long time home on ABC News to join the Fox Business Channel and Fox News Channel, both owned and operated by News Corp...
: "[You’re] right on the money." - Roger AilesRoger AilesRoger Eugene Ailes is president of Fox News Channel, chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group. Ailes was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W...
: "You got balls, Goldberg." - Bob CostasBob CostasRobert Quinlan "Bob" Costas is an American sportscaster, on the air for the NBC network since the early 1980s.-Early life:...
: "Buck up... Because what you did, essentially, is just keeping with who you want to be and who you should be." - Peter BoyerPeter BoyerPeter Boyer is an American composer, conductor, and professor of music. He is known primarily for his orchestral works, which have received over 250 performances, by more than 90 orchestras....
: "CBS News should be proud."
- "In the future, if you have any derogatory remarks to make about CBS News or one of your co-workers... I hope you'll do the same thing again. Regards, Andy Rooney."
4. Identity Politics
Goldberg identifies himself as a traditional liberal. His mother was a housekeeper and his father worked in a factory. He attended Rutgers UniversityRutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
and joined CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
in 1972.
- “... But these days I see a lot of sexism masquerading as feminism ...”
- “... I also think there’s too much male-bashing around ..."
- Spiro AgnewSpiro AgnewSpiro Theodore Agnew was the 39th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Richard Nixon, and the 55th Governor of Maryland...
’s quote about the press: “nattering nabobs of negativism ...” - J.B. Stoner: “A bigot of world-class proportions.”
- Ronald ReaganRonald ReaganRonald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
: “... liberals saw him as an old man ...”- To feminists he was a “... symbol of the oppressive white male.”
- To gays,“... He was the reason AIDS was spreading.”
- Blacks felt he “ridiculed ‘welfare queens’ ”
To prove his thesis
Thesis
A dissertation or thesis is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings...
about a liberal bias in the news media, he wrote about Harry Smith (television)
Harry Smith (television)
Harry Smith is an American television journalist. He hosted the CBS News morning programs, The Early Show and its predecessor, CBS This Morning, for 17 years...
. In 1981, Smith co-hosted CBS This Morning. He identified “conservative” Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis Schlafly
Phyllis McAlpin Stewart Schlafly is a Constitutional lawyer and an American politically conservative activist and author who founded the Eagle Forum. She is known for her opposition to modern feminism ideas and for her campaign against the proposed Equal Rights Amendment...
and “noted law professor Catharine Mackinnon
Catharine MacKinnon
Catharine Alice MacKinnon is an American feminist, scholar, lawyer, teacher and activist.- Biography :MacKinnon was born in Minnesota. Her mother is Elizabeth Valentine Davis; her father, George E. MacKinnon was a lawyer, congressman , and judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit...
...” without stating Mackinnon's liberal leanings. Golberg summed it up: “In the world of the [Peter] Jenningses and [Tom] Brokaws and [Dan]Rathers, conservatives are out of the mainstream and need to be identified ... That which is right of center is conservative. That which is left of center is middle of the road.”
Susan Zirinsky worked on CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
and 48 Hours
48 Hours (TV series)
48 Hours is a documentary and news program broadcast on the CBS television network since January 19, 1988. The program originally presented documentaries of various events related to a particular subject occurring within a 48-hour period, and is credited as one of the first to air a "reality show"...
”.
“She didn’t conspire with anyone to freeze out conservative women. She just thought NOW
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
was the logical place to go [in getting quotes about women’s issues].”
- Michael BaroneMichael Barone (pundit)Michael Barone is a conservative American political analyst, pundit and journalist. He is best known for being the principal author of The Almanac of American Politics, a reference work concerning US governors and federal politicians, and published biennially by National Journal...
: The press is “one of America’s most pro-feminist institutions.”
5. How Bill Clinton Cured Homelessness
According to Goldberg, since 1980s, the homeless depicted on the networks were not drug users, crazy or criminals. They were “likeable” homeless depicted to appeal to the audience. He said that such depictions won sympathy for the homeless, because they were made attractive. The mediawere exaggerated to the millions of homeless in the US.
- “A lot of news people, after all, got into journalism in the first place so they could change the world and make it a better place.”
- “Don’t let the facts stand in the way of a good story!”
Candy Crowley
Candy Crowley
Candy Alt Crowley is a CNN anchor and Chief Political Correspondent, specializing in U.S. presidential, gubernatorial, and Senate elections. She is based in CNN's Washington bureau, and hosted Inside Politics in place of Judy Woodruff before the show was replaced with The Situation Room. Crowley...
(CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
). Jackie Nespral
Jackie Nespral
Jackie Nespral is an American television anchor for WTVJ-TV, the NBC owned and operated station in Miramar, Florida.-Early years and education:Nespral grew up in the Little Havana area of Miami, attended St...
(NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
), Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood
Charles Osgood is a radio and television commentator in the United States. His daily program, The Osgood File, has been broadcast on the CBS Radio Network since 1971. He is also known for being the voice of the narrator of Horton Hears a Who!, an animated film released in 2008, based on the book...
(CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
), Ray Brady
Ray Brady
Raymond T. Brady was an Irish International footballer who played in England in the late 1950's and early 1960's with Millwall and QPR....
(CBS) did reports on the “hidden homeless”.
Gina Kolata
Gina Kolata
Gina Bari Kolata is a science journalist for The New York Times. Her sister was environmental activist Judi Bari, and her mother was mathematician Ruth Aaronson Bari....
did an article about the main cause of homelessness: “drug(s) and alcohol”
- “Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.”
Goldberg: “For reporters who were too young to cover the great civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
struggle of the 1960s, the homeless story twenty years later was the next best thing.” He argued that during the 1980s, Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
was seen as the cause of homelessness. Then homelessness decreased during Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
's Administration because such stories received less media coverage.
6. Epidemic of Fear
According to Goldberg, AIDSAIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
activists worked to scare the hell out of America to get attention. If the general public continued to believe that the victims were limited to gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
men or (drug addicts), he wrote, the activists were concerned that no one would care. This led to a $5 million Federal ad campaign: “AIDS doesn’t discriminate.”
Goldberg used a study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs
Center for Media and Public Affairs
The Center for Media and Public Affairs is a self-described nonpartisan and nonprofit research and educational organization that is affiliated with George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. It was founded in 1985 by political scientists Dr. S. Robert Lichter and his ex-wife, the late Dr....
:
- 16% of AIDS patients shown on TV were Black or Hispanic. 46% of AIDS sufferers were actually Black or Hispanic.
- 2% of AIDS patients shown on TV were shown to be drug addicts. Drug addicts were 23% of AIDS cases in real life.
Goldberg: “Unlike … cancer and heart disease, AIDS had civil rights. ‘How did you get it?’ was considered an uncivil question ... Only AIDS is shrouded in political correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
.” Reporters let their compassion get in the way of their reporting. In 1992, “48 Hours” did a story on “The Killer Next Door”: “Scaring the hell out of people makes for good TV, even when it makes for shallow journalism …”
- Bill Paley: “Make us proud.”
- Don HewittDon HewittDonald Shepard "Don" Hewitt was an American television news producer and executive, best known for creating 60 Minutes, the CBS television news magazine, in 1968, which at the time of his death, was the longest-running prime-time broadcast on American television...
: “[Now they tell us]; Make us money.” - Goldberg recalled the story of Richard Salant. Salant: “I have good news and bad news ..." Good News: CBS News made a profit for the first time because of 60 Minutes60 Minutes60 Minutes is an American television news magazine, which has run on CBS since 1968. The program was created by producer Don Hewitt who set it apart by using a unique style of reporter-centered investigation....
. Bad News: CBS News made a profit for the first time because of “60 Minutes”. Goldberg believes that 60 Minutes is responsible, ironically, for the lowered quality of TV journalism. Driven by profit, the news has to play by entertainment's rules. It was not enough to report on a story, but to entertain an audience enough to get ratings -- and money. Once, the bulk of network profits came from its entertainment division. News was "special" and not expected to make money, because it was a public service.
Randy Shilts
Randy Shilts
Randy Shilts was a pioneering gay American journalist and author. He worked as a freelance reporter for both The Advocate and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as for San Francisco Bay Area television stations....
—“And the Band Played On
And the Band Played On
And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic is a nonfiction book written by San Francisco Chronicle journalist Randy Shilts, published in 1987...
”
Lisa McGuirk—“48 Hours” Producer
7. “I Thought Our Job Was to Tell the Truth”
Bernard Goldberg cited cases where CBS NewsCBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
producers were hesitant about using stories that featured Black criminals. As an example, Goldberg wrote about a 1995 CBS News story about Alabama’s governor, Fob James
Fob James
Forrest Hood James, Jr., known as Fob James , is an American politician, a civil engineer, and an all-American half-back...
, reestablishing chain gangs. Larry Doyle, an ex-Marine
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
Captain, Diana Gonzales, and Al Berman worked on the story.
In 1999, Brill's Content did a story on Gannett’s newspapers. It required reporters at all 75 papers to include minorities in their stories.
In September 1995, Hurricane Marilyn affected St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Saint Thomas is an island in the Caribbean Sea and with the islands of Saint John, Saint Croix, and Water Island a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. Located on the island is the territorial capital and port of...
. CBS News did a story produced by Larry Doyle. There was looting and the weekend producer, Raylena Fields, complained that all the looters were Black. Fields is a Black woman.
Shelby Steele
Shelby Steele
-Awards:*National Book Critics Circle Award in the general non-fiction category for the book The Content of Our Character.*Emmy and Writers Guild Awards for his 1991 Frontline documentary film Seven Days in Bensonhurst.-External links:**...
: “I think white guilt, in its broad sense, springs from a knowledge of ill-gotten advantage...”
- Stokely CarmichaelStokely CarmichaelKwame Ture , also known as Stokely Carmichael, was a Trinidadian-American black activist active in the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement. He rose to prominence first as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and later as the "Honorary Prime Minister" of the Black Panther Party...
: “What the liberal really wants is to bring about change which will not in any way endanger [their] position.”
Liberal Elites “are not generous at all. They’re quite selfish.” They distort images to ease their own pain.
- Michael Janeway: “Suddenly newsrooms had to be de facto caucuses organized by gender, race, and ethnicity.”
- Larry Doyle: “I thought our job was to tell the truth."
8. How About A Media That Reflects America
Goldberg wrote that Dan RatherDan Rather
Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9,...
became angrier when Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
gave support on his radio and TV shows. Emily Rooney
Emily Rooney
Emily Rooney is an American journalist, TV talk show and radio host and former news producer. Since 1997, Rooney has been the host, executive editor and creator of Greater Boston and the weekly Beat the Press on WGBH-TV, which are also later rebroadcast on the Boston-based WGBH radio station...
also got support from Limbaugh. Rooney was once the Executive Producer for ABC's World News Tonight. In a TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
article, she criticized the media for its “liberal vision”.
Don Hewitt
Don Hewitt
Donald Shepard "Don" Hewitt was an American television news producer and executive, best known for creating 60 Minutes, the CBS television news magazine, in 1968, which at the time of his death, was the longest-running prime-time broadcast on American television...
supposedly told Andrew Heyward
Andrew Heyward
Andrew Heyward is a former President of CBS News, serving from January 1996 until early November 2005. Currently, he is a Senior Advisor to Marketspace LLC, Monitor Group's digital media practice, where he works with clients to create and strengthen original online content, make more effective use...
about Bernard Goldberg
Bernard Goldberg
Bernard Richard Goldberg , also known as Bernie Goldberg, is an eleven-time Emmy Award-winning American writer, journalist, and political commentator...
: “I don’t want him anywhere on the 9th floor.”
Goldberg stated that Michael Gartner
Michael Gartner
Michael Gartner is an American journalist and businessman. He was President of the Iowa Board of Regents. He is a graduate of Carleton College and the New York University School of Law....
, former President of NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
, gave indirect support and friendly advice to CBS. He recalled speaking to Jon Klein, Executive Vice President of CBS News, on February 21, 1996, days after the Wall Street Journal article.
- Klein: “… We would have fired you the day the ‘Wall Street Journal’ piece ran.”
“[CBS News will use] All the big guns in its arsenal … [if you act against us in public].”
Goldberg: “Jon was Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
playing Michael [from the Godfather
The Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
]. The calm one. The smart one ... an Ivy League
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an athletic conference comprising eight private institutions of higher education in the Northeastern United States. The conference name is also commonly used to refer to those eight schools as a group...
guy.”
Dan Rather told Tom Snyder
Tom Snyder
Thomas James "Tom" Snyder was an American television personality, news anchor and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows The Tomorrow Show, on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and The Late Late Show, on the CBS Television Network in the 1990s...
during a February 8, 1995 interview: “It’s one of the great political myths about press bias ..."
Sally Quinn
Sally Quinn
Sally Sterling Quinn is an American author and journalist, who writes about religion for a blog at The Washington Post.-Personal:...
: “We [the press] all think differently”. The Freedom Forum and the Paper Center.
Roxanne Russell: CBS News Washington Bureau producer. “Gary Bauer
Gary Bauer
Gary Lee Bauer is an American politician notable for his ties to several evangelical Christian groups and campaigns.-Biography:...
, the little nut from the Christian group.” Said during a conference call from Miami on April 14, 1999.
Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
on Christianity: “[the religion] is for losers”. During Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday, in the calendar of Western Christianity, is the first day of Lent and occurs 46 days before Easter. It is a moveable fast, falling on a different date each year because it is dependent on the date of Easter...
2001, at the CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
bureau in Washington, DC. “Jesus Freaks”.
9. Targeting Men
Goldberg criticizes what he sees as overkill in the media's ridicule of men, adding that there is a “license to overkill” against white men. He calls Harry SmithHarry Smith (television)
Harry Smith is an American television journalist. He hosted the CBS News morning programs, The Early Show and its predecessor, CBS This Morning, for 17 years...
“as affable a feminist you’ll ever meet ...” Smith interviewed Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...
who was promoting Something to Talk About
Something to Talk About (film)
Something to Talk About is a 1995 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Lasse Hallström, from a screenplay written by Callie Khouri. It stars Julia Roberts and Dennis Quaid as an estranged couple, Kyra Sedgwick as Roberts's sister, and Robert Duvall and Gena Rowlands as their parents. The...
. Smith: “I’m under the assumption that most men are putzes ...” (Putz = “Jerk”)
- Katie CouricKatie CouricKatherine Anne "Katie" Couric is an American journalist and author. She serves as Special Correspondent for ABC News, contributing to ABC World News, Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America, This Week and primetime news specials...
made a “castration joke” to a jilted woman. - Sam DonaldsonSam DonaldsonSamuel Andrew "Sam" Donaldson, Jr. is a reporter and news anchor, serving with ABC News from 1967 to the present, best known as the network's White House Correspondent and as a panelist and later co-anchor of the network's Sunday Program "This Week."-Early life and career:Donaldson was born in El...
sparked controversy from women's groups when he referred to a park ranger as “rangerette”. Donaldson wrote later that he "failed to ask a single challenging provocative question of leaders of feminist organizations ...”
- Warren FarrellWarren FarrellWarren Farrell is an American author of seven books on men's and women's issues. His books cover twelve fields: history, law, sociology and politics ; couples’ communication ; economic and career issues ; child psychology and child custody ; and...
— author of “Women Can’t Hear What Men Don’t See”. He argues that men earn more “for very different behavior at work ... different efforts ...” Women are inaccurately portrayed as victims of the white male power structure.
- Washington Post reporter, Sally Jenkins, saw Meredith VieiraMeredith VieiraMeredith Louise Vieira is an American journalist, television personality, and game show host. She is best known for her roles as the original moderator of the ABC talk program The View and co-host of the long-running NBC News morning news program, Today...
covering the Yankees—Mets World Series 2000 game. Mike PiazzaMike PiazzaMichael Joseph "Mike" Piazza ; born September 4, 1968) is an American former Major League Baseball catcher. He played in his career with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins, New York Mets, San Diego Padres and the Oakland Athletics....
supposedly rolled his eyes when Vieira asked who had the “biggest wood” on the team.
10.“Where Thieves and Pimps Run Free”
Hunter Thompson quoted: “The TV business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs ...”In the summer of 1999 NAACP President Kweisi Mfume
Kweisi Mfume
Kweisi Mfume is the former President/CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People , as well as a five-term Democratic Congressman from Maryland's 7th congressional district, serving in the 100th through 104th Congress...
, said that TV was “the most segregated industry in the US.” He complained that the upcoming fall network schedule had shows with few minorities.
A la James Carville
James Carville
Chester James Carville, Jr. is an American political consultant, commentator, educator, actor, attorney, media personality, and prominent liberal pundit. Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill...
's “It’s the economy, stupid!”, Goldberg stated that it's not racism, but profit that explains why there are so few minorities on TV. He referred to BET
Bet
Bet or BET may refer to:* A wager in gambling* Basic Economics Test * Bet , the second letter in many Semitic alphabets, including Aramaic, Hebrew, Phoenician and Syriac* Brunauer-Emmett-Teller isotherm. See BET_theory...
founder, Robert L. Johnson
Robert L. Johnson
Robert L. Johnson is an American business magnate best known for being the founder of television network Black Entertainment Television , and is also its former chairman and chief executive officer...
, who argued that White audiences are more profitable. “The more middle class white people the better”. (According to Goldberg, Johnson, a Black man, said what many White network executives would not.)
Goldberg: “Top producers and executives for news, didn’t want” blacks for the same reasons as the entertainment divisions: less revenue.
- “Primetime news magazines are on TV to make money, just like everything else on TV, so they have to play by entertainment’s rules.”
- “This concern for race and ethnicity is common knowledge at [CBS News] 48 Hours."
- Damon Standifer (Black actor)—“Had SeinfeldSeinfeldSeinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
’s characters been Black, [the show] wouldn’t have lasted one season.” - Joyce MaynardJoyce MaynardDaphne Joyce Maynard is an American author known for writing with candor about her life, as well as for her works of fiction and hundreds of essays and newspaper columns, often about parenting and family...
“The virtually endless fascination most of us feel for watching ourselves and our neighbors on television ...”
11. The Most Important Story You Never Saw On TV
Social scientist Mary EberstadtMary Eberstadt
Mary Tedeschi Eberstadt is an American author and a research fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. She also serves as consulting editor of Policy Review, the Hoover Institution’s bimonthly journal...
published a study in Policy Review
Policy Review
Policy Review is one of America's leading conservative journals. It was founded by the Heritage Foundation and was for many years the foundation's flagship publication. In 2001, the publication was acquired by the Stanford University-based Hoover Institution, though it maintains its office on...
titled “Home Alone America”. It states: “The increasing absence from home of biological mothers — effectively increases the access of would be predators ... Part of the reason that children in both societies do so well (Japan and Korea) on international tests has to do with the investments their mothers make in their educations.”
Goldberg believed the study did not get mainstream news attention out of “a fear of being seen as hostile to women-as-underdog-working-mothers. It is that the media elites will not take on feminist[s] ... ‘Those gals [TV female colleagues] got a dog in this fight.’ As Dan might put it. They’re defending themselves.” When something is “controversial” — the media person disagrees with it. To parlay the guilt of working moms — study shows 17% if kids in day care for 30+ hours weekly are aggressive.
- An April 2001 study released by the National Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentNational Institute of Child Health and Human DevelopmentThe Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development , created by Congress in 1962, supports and conducts research on topics related to the health of children, adults, families, and populations...
, was described as “controversial” by Dan RatherDan RatherDaniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9,...
, Robert HagerRobert HagerRobert Hager is an analyst and a former correspondent for the US television network NBC News . Hager started his journalism career in radio before moving to network news. He began his work at NBC in June 1969, covering the Vietnam War...
and Russ MitchellRuss MitchellRussell Mitchell is an American journalist for CBS, anchor of the Early Show on Saturday, and weekend anchor of the CBS Evening News.-Early years:...
.
Many Eberstadt: “Many [women] work outside the home; they prefer it that way.”
- Robert RectorRobert RectorRobert Rector is a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a nationally recognized expert on poverty issues. He is considered one of the architects of the 1996 federal welfare reform act, and has also influenced immigration reform and abstinence education policy...
of the The Heritage FoundationThe Heritage FoundationThe Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...
: 80% of pre-school services are provided to two-income families.
- Rich LowryRich LowryRichard A. Lowry is the editor of National Review, a conservative American news magazine, and a syndicated columnist.-Career:...
-National ReviewNational ReviewNational Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
—Writes that work has become central to feminine identity.
12. Liberal 'hate speech'
“If arrogance were a crime, there wouldn’t be enough jail cells in the entire United States to hold all the people in TV news …” (Goldberg quoting a network correspondent).Goldberg compiles a list of “Notable Quotables” from the Media Research Center
Media Research Center
The Media Research Center is a content analysis organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, founded in 1987 by conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III...
, about offensive quotes from noted liberals in the media speaking about Republicans or Conservatives.
Julianne Malveaux
Julianne Malveaux
Dr. Julianne Malveaux is the 15th president of Bennett College. She is an African-American economist, author, liberal social and political commentator, and businesswoman. She is well-known for her left-wing political opinions.-Education and career:Malveaux entered Boston College after the 11th...
-(USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
and Pacifica
Pacifica Radio
Pacifica Radio is the oldest public radio network in the United States. It is a group of five independently operated, non-commercial, listener-supported radio stations that is known for its progressive/liberal political orientation. It is also a program service supplying over 100 affiliated...
), spoke of Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Succeeding Thurgood Marshall, Thomas is the second African American to serve on the Court....
.
Nina Totenberg
Nina Totenberg
Nina Totenberg is an American legal affairs correspondent for National Public Radio focusing primarily on the activities and politics of the Supreme Court of the United States. Her reports air regularly on NPR's newsmagazines All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition...
—(NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
and ABC News
ABC News
ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...
) — Jesse Helms
Jesse Helms
Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr. was a five-term Republican United States Senator from North Carolina who served as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001...
Evan Thomas
Evan Thomas
Evan Welling Thomas III is an American journalist and author. He currently teaches journalism at Princeton University.-Life and career:Thomas was born in Huntington, New York and was raised in Cold Spring Harbor, New York...
- (Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
), spoke of Paula Jones
Paula Jones
Paula Corbin Jones is a former Arkansas state employee who sued U.S. President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment. The lawsuit was dismissed before trial on the grounds that Jones failed to demonstrate any damages...
.
Linda Chavez
Linda Chavez
Linda Chavez is an American author, commentator, and radio talk show host. She is also a Fox News analyst, Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity, has a syndicated column that appears in newspapers nationwide each week, and sits on the Board of Directors of two Fortune 1000 companies:...
—The Center for Equal Opportunity—“Linda ... and at your age, being raped—sorry.”
Bonnie Erbe
Bonnie Erbe
Bonnie Erbé is an American journalist and television host based in the Washington, D.C. area who has covered national politics since 1975. She attended Barnard College where she received her bachelors degree. She later received her MSJ from Columbia University School of Journalism and her J.D...
—(NBC Radio, Mutual Reporter)
13.“The Ship Be Sinking”
Goldberg used a quote from former basketball player, Michael Ray Richardson, to describe the fate of the evening news: "The Ship Be Sinking”- Washington Post: Bill O'ReillyBill O'Reilly (commentator)William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
was "cable TV’s ascendant talk star.” - Brill's Content—March 2000 issue—822 persons polled:
- 74% of Republicans believe journalists are liberal.
- 47% of Democrats perceive a liberal tilt.
Bernard Goldberg: “As far as I’m concerned, the 3 people Bill [O’Reilly] owes so much of his success are Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings and Dan Rather.” Goldberg interviewed O'Reilly in December 2000. O’Reilly said, "[viewers]...perceive Rather and those guys as being Left, but even more, they see them as being elitist, not being in touch with them.”
Roger Ailes
Roger Ailes
Roger Eugene Ailes is president of Fox News Channel, chairman of the Fox Television Stations Group. Ailes was a media consultant for Republican presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W...
wrote in New York Times Magazine (June 2001): “There are more conservatives at Fox. But we are not a conservative network. That disparity says far more about the competition.”
Bill O'Reilly
Bill O'Reilly (commentator)
William James "Bill" O'Reilly, Jr. is an American television host, author, syndicated columnist and political commentator. He is the host of the political commentary program The O'Reilly Factor on the Fox News Channel, which is the most watched cable news television program on American television...
: “You don’t see an articulate spokesman who’s pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
on the network evening news. They’d rather show someone who just blew up an abortion clinic ... It’s the last days of Pompeii
Pompeii
The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
. They’re desperately trying to hold on. They see smoke.”
John Leo
John Leo
John Leo is a writer and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He edits , the Institute's web site on America's universities, and is a contributing editor of City Journal. He is also a Visitor of Ralston College, a start-up liberal arts college in Savannah.From 1988 to 2006 his weekly column...
: “Journalists tend to feel that bigotry is widespread in America, and they are primed to see it quickly when their counterparts in the lobbying world send in their reports. This explains why stories about alleged racial slurs among Texaco
Texaco
Texaco is the name of an American oil retail brand. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand....
executives and the wave of church bombings in the South were still being framed as bias news long after the evidence showed that this framing was wrong ... It’s one reason why there are so few people who trust the press.”
14.Connecting the Dots…to Terrorism
Bernard GoldbergBernard Goldberg
Bernard Richard Goldberg , also known as Bernie Goldberg, is an eleven-time Emmy Award-winning American writer, journalist, and political commentator...
: “In an ‘entertainment culture,” even the news is entertainment.”
Golberg said that following the Oklahoma City Bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
, it took the media elites a few days to connect the attack to the Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, and conservatives
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
, including Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
.
Bernard wrote that the press does not want to put the underdogs in a bad light. In the case of the Palestinians, for example, the media does not report much on Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
.
He criticized journalists for trying to create “Moral Equivalence” and “Pro-Moral Equivalence” in their news coverage.
Commentary Magazine. Fiamma Nirenstein
Fiamma Nirenstein
Fiamma Nirenstein is an Italian politician, journalist and author. She is a member of Silvio Berlusconi's conservative coalition government and is Vice-president of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Italian Chamber of Deputies...
: “... there is a subtle form of racism at work here. The Arabs, it is implicitly suggested, are a backward people not to be held to the civilized standards of the West.”
15.Newzak
- “I think Dan [Rather] is caught in a time warp…where Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
is still President..”
- Andrew HeywardAndrew HeywardAndrew Heyward is a former President of CBS News, serving from January 1996 until early November 2005. Currently, he is a Senior Advisor to Marketspace LLC, Monitor Group's digital media practice, where he works with clients to create and strengthen original online content, make more effective use...
: “Dan Rather can’t distinguish between mainstream, legitimate criticism and criticism coming from extremists. It’s all the same to him.”
- Jon KleinJonathan Klein (CNN)Jonathan Klein is the former president of CNN/U.S., who was responsible for management oversight of all programming, editorial tone and strategic direction of the network. Klein led CNN during its coverage of the 2008 presidential election, which resulted in the highest ratings in the history of...
: “You have to understand that Dan Rather is Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
...Now Rather has become what he detested.”
- Michael Jordan—Chairman of Westinghouse. To USAIR Magazine: “I think his Goldberg'sBernard GoldbergBernard Richard Goldberg , also known as Bernie Goldberg, is an eleven-time Emmy Award-winning American writer, journalist, and political commentator...
criticism is fair.”
Goldberg wrote about his August 11, 1998 meeting with Jeff Fager
Jeff Fager
Jeff Fager is the Chairman of CBS News and the Executive Producer of 60 Minutes, the hour-long CBS news magazine created in 1968.-Career:...
about being a 60 Minutes II
60 Minutes II
60 Minutes II was a weekly primetime news magazine television program that was intended to replicate the "signature style, journalistic quality and integrity" of the original 60 Minutes series.It aired on CBS on Wednesdays, then later moved to Fridays at 8 p.m...
correspondent. He wrote that Fager brought up the WSJ article and stated that it would not influence his decision. (Goldberg wondered to himself: Then why the fuck did you bring it up for!) On September 15, 1998, he learned of his rejection, and felt that he was still being punished for the article. Goldberg decided to leave CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and asked to stay until May 31, 2000, when his “pension kicked in”.
- Reinhold NiebuhrReinhold NiebuhrKarl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr was an American theologian and commentator on public affairs. Starting as a leftist minister in the 1920s indebted to theological liberalism, he shifted to the new Neo-Orthodox theology in the 1930s, explaining how the sin of pride created evil in the world...
: “Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith but in doubt.”
- July 14, 2001. Boston Globe interviewed Peter JenningsPeter JenningsPeter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings, CM was a Canadian American journalist and news anchor. He was the sole anchor of ABC's World News Tonight from 1983 until his death in 2005 of complications from lung cancer...
. “Those of us who went into journalism in the ‘50s or ‘60s, it was sort of a liberal thing to do. Save the world.” Jennings also said, “conservative voices in the US, have not been as present as they might have been and should have been in the media.” Goldberg complained of the lack of coverage to Jennings' candor.
Goldberg describes the evening news as television's version of elevator music.