And That's the Way It Isn't: A Reference Guide to Media Bias [Paperback]

Brent Bozell (Author), Brent H. Baker (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Media Research Center (June 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962734802
• ISBN-13: 978-0962734809
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #249,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One for your reference library, April 29, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: And That's the Way It Isn't: A Reference Guide to Media Bias (Paperback)

This book should be required reading for anyone who votes. After reading this digest of countless studies and polls, only one conclusion can be reached: the media are hopelessly biased to the left. 2 points off for dry presentation

19 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptionally balanced and thorough, December 9, 2001

By 

Dean Esmay (Westland, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: And That's the Way It Isn't: A Reference Guide to Media Bias (Paperback)

Many conservative populists rant about "liberal media bias" far too much. One gets the impression that they think there's a massive conspiracy to deceive the public. This discredits them and many of their ideas in the eyes of the average voter.

Nevertheless, the evidence has been there for some time that the vast majority of the press and those in Hollywood vote Democratic and lean to the left. And this book, written by responsible social scientists, demonstrates the voting patterns, social backgrounds, and political beliefs of the majority of the power elite in Hollywood and in the major broadcast and print news outlets.

What this book demonstrates is that most of the press and most of Hollywood lean to the left. This does not mean that any particular reporter or editor or news anchor intentionally goes out of his way to slant his reporting. What it means is that the average news reporter, editor, and producer (or Hollywood writer, director, or producer) has a set of attitudes about the world that he shares with most of his colleagues. The problem being that if everyone you work with shares your bias, if you're ALL a little left of center and everyone you encounter shares that, you will tend to be blind to when you're not being fair to other interpretations of events or history.

To their credit, the authors do a great deal of in-depth research, showing areas where many in the press are actually rather conservative. On the whole, what they show to any open-minded person is that most in the media lean left on many major issues, and lean right on a few. This even leaves open the possibility that left-wing critics of the press are right sometimes, and that right-wing critics of the media are often correct.

This book is must-reading for anyone who cares about the possibility that what we see in the media may not always be fair, and is open-minded enough to consider the possibility that the critics may have something. Unfortunately, the book is dated; none of the research goes past the 1980s. It badly needs an update. Let's hope the publishers see fit to do one.

17 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent reference showing journalists' political views., December 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: And That's the Way It Isn't: A Reference Guide to Media Bias (Paperback)

If you would like to know which of today's top journalists, reporters and even news department heads worked as Democratic political staff members in the past, this is the first place you should look. This book even cites quotes (with references to the sources) from many supposedly impartial members of the news media showing their true political leanings, as well as polls of the media showing their voting records (about 9-to-1 for Mondale and against Reagan - is that representative of ordinary political views?). Anyone who doubts that the vast majority of the news media favors the Democratic party should check this book out. However, this is more of a reference source than a literary work, so don't expect great narration.