Author | Bernard Goldberg |
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Publisher | Regnery Publishing |
Publication date | February 25, 2001 |
Media type | Hardcover |
Pages | 250 pages |
ISBN | ISBN 0895261901 Parameter error in {{ISBNT}}: invalid character |
Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News is a controversial 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.
"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 Ailes, 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.”
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 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."
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 Schieffer, 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."
3. “The Emperor is Naked"
Goldberg recounts his many conversations with Andrew Heyward. 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, then saying he would deny it Goldberg mentioned it 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:
- John Stossel: “[You’re] right on the money.”
- Roger Ailes: “You got balls, Goldberg.”
- Bob Costas: “Buck up … because what you did, essentially, is just keeping with who you want to be and who you should be.”
- Peter Boyer: “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 University and joined CBS News 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 Agnew’s quote about the press: “nattering nabobs of negativism ...”
- J.B. Stoner: “A bigot of world-class proportions.”
- Ronald Reagan: “... 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 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].”
- Michael Barone: 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 media were 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 (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”
- “Afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.”
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.
6. Epidemic of Fear
According to Goldberg, AIDS 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:
- 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.” 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 Hewitt: “[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 Minutes. 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—“And the Band Played On” Lisa McGuirk—“48 Hours” Producer
7. “I Thought Our Job Was to Tell the Truth”
Bernard Goldberg cited cases where CBS News 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...”
- Stokely Carmichael: “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 Rather 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.
- 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 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”.
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 Smith “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”)
- Katie Couric made a “castration joke” to a jilted woman.
- Sam Donaldson 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 Farrell— 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 Vieira covering the Yankees—Mets World Series 2000 game. Mike Piazza 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, said that TV was “the most segregrated 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.
- “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 Seinfeld’s characters been Black, [the show] wouldn’t have lasted one season.”
- Joyce Maynard “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 Eberstadt 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.
- An April 2001 study released by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, was described as “controversial” by Dan Rather, Robert Hager and Russ Mitchell.
Many Eberstadt: “Many [women] work outside the home; they prefer it that way.”
- Robert Rector of the The Heritage Foundation: 80% of pre-school services are provided to two-income families.
- Rich Lowry-National Review—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, 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)
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'Reilly 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 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.”
14.Connecting the Dots…to Terrorism
Bernard Goldberg: “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.”
15.Newzak
- “I think Dan [Rather] is caught in a time warp…where Richard Nixon is still President..”
- Andrew Heyward: “Dan Rather can’t distinguish between mainstream, legitimate criticism and criticism coming from extremists. It’s all the same to him.”
- Jon Klein: “You have to understand that Dan Rather is Richard Nixon...Now Rather has become what he detested.”
- Michael Jordan—Chairman of Westinghouse. To USAIR Magazine: “I think his Goldberg's criticism is fair.”
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”.
- Reinhold Niebuhr: “Frantic orthodoxy is never rooted in faith but in doubt.”
- July 14, 2001. Boston Globe interviewed Peter Jennings. “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.