Skewed news (BIAS)

Boston Globe ^ | February 4, 2002 | Cathy Young, Reason Magazine

[Cincinatus' Wife]

THE HOTTEST-selling book in America right now, ''Bias: A CBS Insider Explains How the Media Distort the News'' by Bernard Goldberg, is making a splash in the very media that are its target. Goldberg's claim that liberal bias is rife in television news and in major newspapers is hardly original; to most conservatives, it's about as surprising as the revelation that the pope is Catholic. But this charge is given extra weight and spice by Goldberg's background as a veteran CBS News correspondent.

[shuckmaster]

Read The Book!

[set the record straight]

Most reporters are biased in view of their own positions. Hence, they do not report the news but put their own positions forth as th news. Thinking people like a web site such as this for it gives them a platform to present their views as well. The media is losing its hold on the information exchange, for people see it for what it is: left-leaning spin department for the demoncrats. The media, by and large, are the apologists for liberalism. They are in denial and still try to make people think they are objective.

[ken5050]

The Globe?....this was in the Bosgton Globe?...obviously last night, as the paper was being put to bed..all the editors were watching the Super Bowl...

[marktwain]

This is essentially correct. I find it very interesting to contemplate how this happened. I see several important factors:

1.The deliberate attempt by Franklin Roosevelt to create liberal news sources to spin stories. I believe both the Washington Post and the Atlanta Constitution Journal are the results of this.

2. The attempt by communists to get control of news sources, the movie industry, and the education establishment.

3. The centralization of electronic media and its control, pushed by government regulation.

4. The utter distain the Left generally has for the truth. Whatever furthers their agenda is defined as "the truth".

[Dales]

Reads like a Boston Herald piece, doesn't it?

[vannrox]

"...Most journalists, no doubt, seek to be fair and objective. But surely, their politics affect their perception of what constitutes fairness, of which stories are important, of whose views are legitimate enough to include in the debate. Too often, liberal opinion is taken to be ''mainstream'' while conservative views are labeled ''right-wing'' or not represented at all. Too often, liberal causes are regarded as synonymous with social justice.

Nicely stated.

[RandallFlagg]

I remember recently that as President Bush was walking toward his helicopter, he had this book in his grip. I hope CNN got REAL nervous when they saw this!

[ez]

or Goldberg's assertion that the media have suppressed the bad news about the harm working mothers allegedly cause to their children - strike me as far less persuasive. Perhaps this is because, in those instances, the biases of the media largely coincide with my own.

Refreshingly candid for a journalist to turn the magnifying glass toward themselves.

[OldFriend]

Does anyone really doubt that the left wing media gets talking points from the DNC.....EVERY DAY....on every issue.

Most of the talking heads seem too uneducated and lazy to form a real basis for their spewing. It's so much easier to read the blast fax and go on the air pretending to speak the truth.

[jimtorr]

I think this "story" is an attempt by the Globe to shield itself from the consequences of its own editorial policy. If the only problem with media bias were the natural personal biases of news writers, the Globe would not have suspended their only conservative columnist for 90 days simply for re-using some 4th of July rhetoric that half the columnists in America have used over the years.

[mewzilla]

The author misses the point.

This is NOT about having a diversity of opinion, except on the op-ed page. It's about keeping opinions OUT of the reportage.

[syriacus]

Overwhelmingly, journalists support abortion rights, affirmative action, and stricter gun control and oppose school prayer and the death penalty.

Except when Muslims want to pray in schools.

---

Does anyone really doubt that the left wing media gets talking points from the DNC.....EVERY DAY....on every issue

And I'd bet NOW and NARAL are pressing their views on abortion, too.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!

[OldFriend]

Obviously the blast fax has replaced the search for the news or the truth with the lamestream media. And they say we are a right wing conspiracy!!!!

[gaspar]

All totalitarian entities learn to use the media. The most recent, the world-wide Muslim Brotherhood, has made it a point to see that young students are sent to the West to major in speech, journalism, and media studies. Graduates have now infiltrated the Middle East media outlets and are responsible for much of the hatred directed toward the USA.

[rebdov]

Isn't it called the Roshumun affect. Ten people witness a murder and see ten different stories? The dominant media think there is only one way to view anything, the way their friends would agree with.

[nicmarlo]

All totalitarian entities learn to use the media.

Yes, and Stalin and Hitler learned it so well. So did the Klintoons.

[Cincinatus]

The author misses the point. This is NOT about having a diversity of opinion, except on the op-ed page. It's about keeping opinions OUT of the reportage.

You've missed her point -- the author is saying that we all have opinions and, like it or not, those "biases" find their way into all reporting, despite the best of intentions. Therefore, the only way to assure "balance" is to have newsrooms populated by people having a wide spectrum of beliefs.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump!