Liberal media bias, at NPR and elsewhere, has a long pedigree
You may have heard about the NPR senior editor who went public with his concerns about liberal bias at his news organization. He says this came after years of in-house conversations about the subject — conversations he felt went nowhere. Perhaps you also heard that he was just suspended for five days without pay for what he did.
Twenty-eight years ago, in March 1996, another journalist, this one a correspondent at CBS News, went public with his concerns about liberal bias at his news organization. This also came after years of in-house conversations about bias — conversations he felt went nowhere.
I have a great deal of knowledge about the CBS News correspondent, about what he did and why he did it. I was that journalist.
Uri Berliner, the NPR editor, wrote for The Free Press that NPR “lost America’s trust” by approaching news stories with a progressive frame of mind.
Back in 1996, I wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “There are lots of reasons fewer people are watching network news, and one of them, I’m more convinced than ever, is that our viewers simply don’t trust us. And for good reason.”
I wasn’t suspended or fired. One senior executive came to my defense. And four-and-a-half years later, I left CBS News to expand on my premise in a book called “Bias,” about liberal bias in the news media.
I don’t know Uri Berliner, but I’m pretty sure we have a few things in common. He was at NPR for 25 years when he went public. I was at CBS News for 24 years when I wrote the op-ed. When he complained in-house about liberal bias, his complaints went nowhere because he was talking to journalists who have a tendency to circle the wagons when they hear the words “liberal bias.” That’s precisely what I experienced.
An NPR story about his suspension says that his essay “angered many of his colleagues … and gave fresh ammunition to conservative and partisan Republican critics of NPR.”
My op-ed in the WSJ angered many of my colleagues. I became radioactive at CBS News in Manhattan, where I was based. And my op-ed gave fresh ammunition to conservative partisans, even though back in 1996 I considered myself an old-fashioned liberal.
And even though I had never been accused of having a conservative bias in any the stories I reported for the evening news anchored by Walter Cronkite and then Dan Rather, I suddenly was the one in the crosshairs. I was called a traitor by at least one anonymous colleague. A senior Washington correspondent wondered why I would stay at CBS if I thought the place was corrupt. Who knows what Berliner’s colleagues are saying about him behind his back.
Berliner’s criticism of his news organization “led NPR leaders to announce monthly internal reviews of the network’s coverage,” according to the NPR news story about his suspension. That’s one difference between his story and mine. CBS News just went along its merry way — no internal review, no admission that perhaps there was a bias at work there — nothing!
The morning my op-ed appeared, I got a phone call on my CBS News answering machine. It was from Roger Ailes, who was eight months away from launching Fox News. “Goldberg, you’ve got balls,” he said in his voicemail message. He wanted to meet me in person, and when we did talk in his office at Fox News headquarters, he offered me a job.
I turned it down. The way I saw it, I was giving CBS News a much-needed wake up call. I was doing my colleagues a favor, even if they didn’t see it that way. I wasn’t about to quit.
Who knows what lies ahead for Uri Berliner? I hope he’s not radioactive when he goes back to work. Take it from me, it’s not a good feeling.
But I’m pretty sure that not much will come of his criticism. Journalists like to look down everybody’s throat — whether it involves the military, the political class, corporate America, even sports — and tell the world what everybody is doing wrong. But they don’t like it when someone is looking down their throat. And they really don’t like it when that someone comes from inside the tent.
I wish Uri Berliner nothing but good luck. I suspect he’s going to need it.
Bernard Goldberg is an Emmy and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University award-winning writer and journalist. He is the author of five books and publishes exclusive weekly columns, audio commentaries and Q&As on his Substack page. Follow him @BernardGoldberg.
Date: |
Topics
Filter
-
EEOC says workplace bias laws cover bathrooms, pronouns and abortion
The EEOC said employers refusing to use transgender workers’ preferred pronouns and barring them from using bathrooms that match their gender identity amounts to unlawful workplace harassment under federal anti-discrimination law.NBC News - Politics - Abortion -
China’s Electric Cars Keep Improving, a Worry for Rivals Elsewhere
More capable autonomous driving is just one way Chinese automakers are threatening to pull ahead — their E.V.s are also becoming bigger and roomier.The New York Times - Business - China -
Americans Worry About Social Media's Growing Power
A new survey showsincreased distrust of Big Tech. Something to remember for your next social marketing campaign.Inc. - Business -
Tech, Media & Telecom Roundup: Market Talk
Find insight on Telegraph Media Group, IBM, Pinterest and more in the latest Market Talks covering the Tech, Media & Telecom sector.The Wall Street Journal - World -
Greene's bid to topple Johnson veers closer to backfiring
The Georgia Republican now has to make a choice: Either don't call the ouster vote, or force one and watch it fail. Both options risk hurting her politically.Politico - Politics -
Senate overwhelmingly passes long-delayed Ukraine and Israel aid
Politico - Politics - Ukraine -
Law Firm Defending Trump Seeks to Withdraw From a Long-Running Case
The firm, LaRocca Hornik, has represented Donald Trump’s political operation in numerous suits dating to his first presidential run, including a pregnancy discrimination case in New York.The New York Times - Top stories - Donald Trump -
Trump Media shares rise again, jump 50% in the past week
The stock has had several volatile days in the past month, trading at a high of about $60 a share and a low of just over $20 per share.CNBC - Business - Donald Trump -
From a Tiny Island in Maine, He Serves Up Fresh Media Gossip
Rusty Foster could never live in New York. But his hit newsletter, Today in Tabs, is an enduring obsession of the city’s media class.The New York Times - Lifestyle -
China Has a Controversial Plan for Brain-Computer Interfaces
China's brain-computer interface technology is catching up to the US. But it envisions a very different use case: cognitive enhancement.Wired - Tech - China
More from The Hill
-
Trump claims ‘paid agitators’ part of Columbia pro-Palestine protests
Former President Trump made unfounded claims Tuesday that pro-Palestine protests at Columbia University contained "paid agitators" as nationwide college campus protests escalate. Hundreds of New York Police Department officers, many with batons ...The Hill - Politics - Donald Trump -
Police in riot gear enter Columbia University to break up pro-Palestine protests
Hundreds of New York Police Department officers, many with batons and in riot gear, moved onto Columbia University’s campus on Tuesday evening as student protesters continued a largely peaceful occupation of a campus building in protest of the ...The Hill - Politics -
White House considers admitting some Palestinians from Gaza as refugees
The Biden administration is considering admitting certain Palestinians to the U.S. as refugees, a report by CBS News found. Senior officials in several U.S. agencies have discussed the idea of resettling Palestinians from Gaza who have immediate ...The Hill - Politics -
Biden campaign hits Trump for saying he would close pandemic preparedness office
President Biden’s reelection campaign criticized former President Trump on Tuesday after Trump said he would get rid of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR). The OPPR was founded in 2022 over failures in government ...The Hill - Politics - Joe Biden -
GOP senator calls for deporting certain foreign student protesters
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) called for the U.S. government to revoke the visas given to international students who are Hamas sympathizers and deport them as college protests continue nationwide. “You cannot go around yelling ‘I am Hamas’ or ...The Hill - Politics