Media Bias

I would like to get some feed back about a new book in the United States (well not new but this year) by Bernard Goldberg called “Bias” in which he claims that there is a subconscious slant toward Liberal issues as against Conservative (Read Democrat vs. Republican) in many U.S. media outlets. He claims that some 80 percent or more of U.S. journalists are liberal Democrat members. He cites the number of homeless cases reported in the media when Republican administrations take over and also cites the media attitude toward Republican as opposed to Democrat presidents, i.e. Carter was always the most intelligent president (witness: Nobel Peace Prize), while Reagan and Bush are invariably referred to as dumb cowboys ready to shoot off their guns for no reason. Any comments? What about for other countries? I would especially like to hear input about Taiwan’s media on this principle. If there are complaints, please go to the other thread. I do not want to hear about misspelled words or how English editors are mistreated. I want to talk about professionalism in terms of objectivity and slant of various organizaitons, ie. Liberty Times is pro-DPP and on their front page they are not objective because it …

I’d like you to post an example of unbiased media if you can find one. Doesn’t have to be from Taiwan or the US – anywhere in the world will do. I don’t think you’ll be successful. Media is biased and usually doesn’t pretend to be otherwise.

Actually, as I understand it, American but also other nations try to keep the editorializing OFF the main news pages. They constantly point to their efforts to remain objective. Bernard Goldberg said this was not true. He said as soon as a Republican administration is elected, the papers are full of ignorant gunslinging cowboys and homeless people filling the streets and business scandals.

According to his views, any reporter worth his salt should have sensed the mess that was happening during the 1990s but it only reached a critical mass exactly at the time Bush was being inaugurated. Is he right?

My main reason for asking is to rebut a theory presented to me that there would have been no break between the US and Europe over Iraq had not the news outlets been driving them apart. These leaders read the newspapers too and during Clinton’s administration most of them were crowing a different tune entirely about Kosovo and Bosnia. Is this a fair assessment?