Arrogance: Rescuing America From the Media Elite (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "There are some journalists out there, of course, who refuse to pretend that liberal bias is a myth, a canard concocted by right-wing ideologues..." (more)
Key Phrases: racial manners, liberal bias, liberal reporters, New York Times, David Westin, Dan Rather (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Most people who hit the top of the bestseller lists with their first book would enjoy their success, but Goldberg (Bias) would rather grouse about how little media attention he got and how even his new publisher (he was previously with Regnery) doesn't understand why liberal bias in journalism is a "crucial" issue. His analysis of the media's "leftward" slant in coverage of social issues, buttressed by his own experiences as a CBS News correspondent and tales from anonymous colleagues, is not without its persuasive qualities, though undermined by rather obvious deck-stacking, condescension toward opposing viewpoints and intermittent outrageousness. He also drops hints about how news organizations bully interviewees to eliminate anything that might contradict what they broadcast an act of arrogance transcending ideological lines but quickly drops that story in favor of more liberal-bashing. And despite his admonition to media professionals to "stop taking [criticism] personally," Goldberg repeatedly makes it personal, taking shots at Barbara Walters, for example, or accusing New York Times columnist Frank Rich of attacking him as a favor to a college classmate. That's only a fraction of his complaints against what he sees as the paper of record's ideological stance, which he considers both far more pervasive and more important than the Jayson Blair scandal. (Nor, he says, is it a new problem, recycling criticisms of Stalin-era Moscow correspondent Walter Duranty that have recently gained favor among mainstream analysts.) Goldberg isn't just a lone voice in the wilderness, either, as interviews with Bob Costas and Tim Russert offer supporting perspectives. Still, this is pure, unadulterated Goldberg, with precisely the same combination of insider knowledge and righteous indignation that made him a hit the first time around
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Product Description

The #1 NewYork Times bestselling author of Bias exposes the culture of narrow-minded elitism in the media-and reveals what must be done to change it. In December of 2001, Emmy Award-winning journalist Bernard Goldberg charged the mainstream media with slanting the news and created a firestorm with his controversial bestseller Bias. Now Goldberg goes beyond identifying the media's partiality and explains how the slanting of the news is all but inevitable in the current climate-and why the media's stars continue to deny the industry's condition. In this fascinating report, Goldberg lays out his rallying cry, unafraid to name names, and prescribes the difficult remedies that

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 310 pages
• Publisher: Warner Books; First Edition edition (November 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 044653191X
• ISBN-13: 978-0446531917
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (125 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #177,334 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

105 of 124 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You already knew deep down..., November 4, 2003

By	Steven Sprunger (Cincinnati, OH United States) - See all my reviews

Yes, most of us already knew that there was a pervasive, media bias, but were afraid to admit it to ourselves. Bernard Goldberg makes it okay with his first book, Bias, and now this follow up title that is even better than the first. I will warn you now that this is a hard book to put down. It is both freeing and sickening to read about how our news is corrupted by the personal agendas of the liberal elites that run the major news outlets. Goldberg takes us step by step through the hows and whys and gives us ways to recognize media bias. Now that we can admit the problem exists and have the tools to recognize it, we can move forward and challenge the media to provide a fair and balanced picture of local and world events.

77 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Right on target again, November 14, 2003

By	Dave Huber (Delaware, United States) - See all my reviews

Bernie is dead on target once again with this continuation of his first book, BIAS. Once more, Goldberg is no right-winger by any means. He's a traditional liberal with over 25 years experience in the "mainstream" media (mostly with CBS). And, he reiterates that he doesn't think there's some "leftist elite conspiracy" to skew news coverage -- it's just that elite journalists are so insulated from most of "real" America that they truly believe their views (liberal) are the norm, and that ideas to the contrary are odd, in the minority, and even dangerous. Why else identify politicians and advocates as "conservative" at a rate magnitudes greater than their liberal counterparts? Why else go to NOW (National Organization of Women) or the NAACP or People for the American Way as "experts" in their fields -- without balancing their views with those groups' conservative counterparts?

This time out, Goldberg includes interviews with Tim Russert and Bob Costas (whom Goldberg considers two of the more balanced news/sports-guys) about the bias problem, and at book's end offers several chapters of solutions to the elite media's problem. One of these chapters even suggests that Brokaw, Jennings, Rather and co. move their news operations to a Middle American city so that they'll be more "in tune" with average Americans. It sounds humorous at first, but ends up making a hell of a lot of sense!

If you liked BIAS, you'll definitely enjoy this second part.

136 of 163 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is about time someone wrote this book, December 8, 2003

By	Robert Wynkoop (Washington State) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Arrogance by Bernard Goldberg
Reviewed December 8, 2003

Being a self-confessed news junkie, all I can say is that it is about time someone dealt with liberal bias in the major media. Katie Couric is bad enough, but when Bryant Gumbel was on the Today Show the bias was so self-evident that I was dumbfounded that liberals could look me in the face and innocently say, What Bias? The rolling of the eyes, the disappointing sighs, and the askance looks which were exclusively reserved for conservatives. Hey, how about Matt Lauer interview of Charlton Heston. Can anyone out there cite me one liberal that has been treated with such disrespect?

Unlike Hilary's vast right wing conspiracy Goldberg repeatedly refuses the attribute liberal bias in the news to a conspiracy. The liberal bias is due to the fact that liberals tend to be drawn to journalism, they attend liberal schools; they live in liberal cultural centers such as New York City. The result is that there is hardly a national journalist who would describe himself or herself as liberal. All their friends, family as associates think like them, so they conclude that they are middle of the road. Hence, the media elite constantly refer to label conservative academics, politicians and research groups as conservations; whereas such groups as NOW, physicians for social responsibility, a plethora of public interest groups and such politicians as Ted Kennedy and Howard Dean rarely are labeled as liberal. The inference that the news audience draws is that those who are labeled as conservation are pushing an agenda, whereas those liberal groups that are given a bye on the liberal label are unselfishly working in the nations best interest

The book is very well researched, citing Nexus searches, interview, articles, etc. This is not a rating of a dissatisfied employee, or some conservative wacko, it is a reasoned argument about news bias. The sad conclusion that Goldberg reaches is that news bias is one discussion that liberals will not even discuss. Anyone who puts forth a reasoned argument for bias, is immediately dismissed as a right-wing wacko or as a racist bigot.

I could write several more thousand words, but you would be much better served by reading this insightful book.