Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #451976 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Mainstream media is no longer fair and balanced
Bernard Goldberg is a liberal and an Emmy Award-winning broadcast journalist that worked for CBS for decades. This book is his expose of his fellow reporters' liberal bias that led to his own ostracism and rejection. Mr. Goldberg offers examples of how media interpretations of current events affect social climate of the country. This book is as timely as the Op-ed pieces Mr. Goldberg wrote when he was still on the CBS payroll. Everyone has a right to their opinion, but not when reporting the news. Our news is supposed to be objective. If they wish to give their own opinions, they should be commentators. I agree with the other reviews that state that this book is a solid indictment of the mainstream media's bias. We should demand that all news media returns to reporting facts and focus on being fair, balanced and objective.

Let Me Tell You Why I Enjoyed This Book So Much!
If you are like me, you have noticed that the nightly news broadcasts on the three oldest U.S. networks favor politically correct terminology, lofty liberal ideals, and the faces of diversity in front of the cameras. You may also have read the many news reports that a very high percentage of all national correspondents of the major media are Democrats and consider themselves to be liberals. So what can be the benefit of a book that states the obvious? I found myself chewing on that thought, long after reading the book. But I did enjoy it.

My conclusion is that Mr. Goldberg's position as a former CBS correspondent makes the charges more credible. Also, Mr. Goldberg is clearly not making these points because of his political beliefs, but rather due to his interest in responsible journalism. If he was willing to place his career on the line at CBS to make these points, I found that it was important to me that I honor him by reading the book.

Next, I found Mr. Goldberg's dry wit absolutely a lot of fun! Where most of us (including me all of the time) groan when we hear a newscaster slam a conservative or put down an opinion the newscaster does agree with, Mr. Goldberg has the ability to imagine what a conservative newscaster might have said that would have aroused maximum liberal wrath. Whether you agree with the examples or not, they are very funny!

Finally, Mr. Goldberg tells us that Mr. Dan Rather isn't quite the man he portrays when reading the news at night.

Having said all of those nice things, let me comment that I think Mr. Goldberg is a little unfair in his portrayal of the reaction at CBS to his Wall Street Journal op-ed piece. More than half way through the book, you will learn for the first time that Mr. Goldberg had a written contract that prohibited him from writing for any publication without advance permission. It didn't look to me like Mr. Goldberg tried to get that permission, although he did call a few people to warn them the piece was going to appear. Then, Mr. Goldberg reports being surprised that many people at CBS viewed what he did as disloyal. If an organization makes you sign an agreement like that to get paid, they are sending a message that they want you to be a team player. If you don't want to do that, you should go elsewhere. Mr. Goldberg seemed to have been be trying to have his cake and eat it too.

Say what needs to be said, be clear and witty if you can, and be sure of the moral ground you are standing on when you do!