“Stop paying attention to the news!”

That’s a piece of advice that I give to many of my clients who start the day watching the morning news or reading the newspaper.  I feel that the media has always slanted the news to the negative, and that it doesn’t really help keep anyone truly informed.  Bernard Goldberg’s Bias takes it a step further and says that the media doesn’t slant it on purpose.  He posits that there is a prevailing attitude that a liberal stance is the “right stance” and that also lends itself to exaggerating negative news.

It brings up a lot of questions in my mind about the validity of information.  We live in a society that is the complete opposite of most of human history.  Usually there wasn’t enough information available, and most people had to live in ignorance.  These days, there is a glut of information, most of it vapid and useless.  Our job as individuals in this type of situation, then, is to learn how to discern the useful information from the not-useful.  As system experts say, we have to learn how to pull the signal out of all of the noise.

 Big Thought

The major media outlets, especially as represented by television newscasts, have an unconscious bias towards the liberal side of the political spectrum that influences the way they report on major issues of the day (even though they won’t admit it). 

Ideas, Implications, and Questions

• The mixing of news and entertainment is a huge problem.  As Bernard writes, “The problem is that, over the years, news has morphed into entertainment … they (television news programs) all have to get good ratings to survive.” (pg 154).  It is a dangerous and misleading trend that has to stop, but because that’s not likely, it requires each of us as individuals to become very savvy consumers of information.  Because it’s not always obvious what is factual reporting and what is opinion, we have to be very careful about what we take in mentally.  There’s value in being skeptical about everything you see on TV, hear on the radio, or read on the internet or print.
• Is it possible to report news in an unbiased fashion?  I’m not sure that it is.  One way to get around this is to make sure that when getting news, we know about the biases of the reporters.  It’s hard to take personal bias out of communication, so maybe a reporter could say, “here’s my opinion on it, but let me tell you the facts as straight as I can.”
• Bernard tends to make  sweeping generalities of all media elites.  He says that all of them only, “talk to people like themselves”, and assume their way of thinking is the “correct way of looking at things” (pg 25).  While they might have many similarities, I think you have to be careful to brush with broad strokes – wouldn’t Bernard have been considered a media elite?  Always look at each situation and at each person on their own merits.
• Bernard accuses the “liberal media elites” of just assuming that their beliefs are common sense, when I see both sides – liberal and conservative –  doing that.  It’s a reminder to me to not assume that everyone holds the same viewpoint as me, and that others have a very good reason in their own minds for thinking and acting in the manner that they do – even if it’s counter to my opinion.
• During the recent presidential elections, I got most of my “news” from The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, both decidedly liberal shows (and technically comedy shows).  I did agree with some, but not all, of their rhetoric; but what I liked is that I knew where the shows stood in their own beliefs.  Also, both shows were open to bringing other points of view onto the show, and not in a token manner.

Should you read this book?

Maybe.  If you already know that the media has a left-leaning slant, and you can decipher it, then it’s not critical reading.  If you want to understand more, or if you disagree with the idea of media bias, I think it’s well worth the read to get more information.