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American Morning

New Book Criticizes CBS News

Aired December 04, 2001 - 09:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back. Can a media outlet be so biassed it actually slants the news? Well, a new book takes an inside look at CBS News and blames two of the network's editorial leaders for consciously tilting news to the left. "Bias" is written by Bernard Goldberg, a man who has spent a career at CBS. We invited him to come on the show. So far, he has declined our invitation. We're hoping to get him on at some point, but joining me right now with his take is Howard Kursk, media critic and host of CNN's "Reliable Sources." Welcome back, Howard.

HOWARD KURSK, MEDIA CRITIC: Thank you, Paula.

ZAHN: Have you had a chance to go through this book?

KURSK: I have read it pretty carefully.

ZAHN: And what do you make of it? Sour grapes, or does he make a legitimate point here?

KURSK: The book is an indictment of everything that Bernie Goldberg thinks is wrong with CBS News, having worked there for 28 years until his last year. Some people will obviously see sour grapes because of the rift that developed between him and his bosses, but I think that his message, and he makes some good points in the book, is likely to be overshadowed by these sort of bunker buster bombs that he drops on Dan Rather and Andrew Heyward, the CBS News president, and he likens them to the Sopranos, calling Dan a Mafia don, who wanted me whacked, saying he has a touch of Nixon's paranoia. And on the other side of the equation, CBS News executives I've talked to in recent days are basically describing Goldberg as a cross between Benedict Arnold and Osama bin Laden. So, it's kind of shaping up as a media jihad.

ZAHN: It's interesting, because I read one account that said Bernie Goldberg actually called Andrew Heyward, the president of CBS News, and said, whatever you do, don't call me a liar. And subsequently, Andrew Heyward says he won't comment on this book. But, let me put up on the screen something that Bernie Goldberg had said before that about Andrew Heyward. He had Andrew Heyward saying to him in a conversation -- this, actually, is something different. This is Bernie Goldberg's take on the media elites. Let's start with this since it's up on the screen. What originally got Bernie Goldberg into trouble at CBS is what he wrote in the Wall Street Journal in '96. Here's what he said. "The old argument that the networks and other 'media elites' have a liberal bias is so blatantly true that it is hardly worth discussing anymore. No, we don't sit around in a dark corner and plan strategies on how we're going to slant the news. We don't have to. It comes naturally to most reporters."

So, Howard, is he telling the truth on that one, particularly when it comes to story selection, and how individual organizations approach those stories?

KURSK: Well, the book, to me, didn't make a persuasive case that CBS is any worse than NBC or ABC or CNN as Goldberg sees it, in terms of leaning to the left. But I certainly wouldn't dispute the notion that on social issues particularly; abortion, gay rights, religion that most journalists are to the left of the general population. And Goldberg does come up with anecdotes that are going to attract a lot of attention. For example, he describes a conference call, daily news discussion, CBS, in which one editor in Washington described Gary Bauer, the former presidential candidate, as "that little nut from the Christian group," and nobody piped up to offer any --

ZAHN: Well, that's ridiculous.

KURSK: Well, that's --

ZAHN: I mean, I can't imagine no one would react to that in an editorial, maybe. If that happened in the Washington Post news room, wouldn't there have been someone sitting there saying, what are you talking about here?

KURSK: I certainly hope so, and it's that kind of arrogance in the anecdotes that he shows that I think will convince some people, at least, that he has got a good point when he talks about journalists at CBS and other news organizations being out of touch with the general public. But, the book does not contain a sort of a detailed analysis of these kinds of stories and here is where they were clearly showing some kind of liberal leaning.

ZAHN: I wanted to go back to that statement that Bernie Goldberg claims the president of CBS News made to him. He said -- quote -- "look, Bernie, of course there's a liberal bias in the news. All the networks tilt left. If you repeat any of this, I'll deny it."

Now, Mr. Heyward went on to say, in a statement put out by CBS News, "Mr. Goldberg asked for a meeting and told us he does not want to be portrayed as a liar or disgruntled employee, therefore, CBS News has no comment about the book or Mr. Goldberg."

So, no one --

KURSK: Well, I gave Andrew --

ZAHN: -- knows whether Mr. Heyward actually said this or not to Bernie Goldberg.

KURSK: Well, I -- when I talked to Andrew Heyward, I certainly gave him the opportunity to deny it. He didn't take that. Instead, he issued this very carefully crafted statement about this dinner he had with Bernie Goldberg in which he said, "don't portray me as a liar or disgruntled employee."

And so Heyward, I think, doesn't want to pump up this book by directly engaging Bernie Goldberg. On the other hand, Eric Engberg, a CBS correspondent who was sharply criticized by Goldberg, responded in kind to me, calling Bernie Goldberg a sleazy snake in the grass. I -- my concern here is that there are some legitimate points. I mean, this debate about liberal bias in the media has been going on for 30 years. It's something news organizations ought to take seriously, ought to grapple with, and all of the name calling on both sides may -- may well serve to obscure that.

ZAHN: Yeah, some of that subtle language you shared with us today was quite interesting. All right, thanks so much, Howard Kurtz. Appreciate your input on this new book. I have just been told that Bernie Goldberg has accepted our invitation. He will be joining us here tomorrow. See, Howard? We focus in on the book and he's going to take our call -- he actually did take our call over the weekend. So, we are delighted to have him come on to defend some of his accusations here. Thank you Bernie. Thanks, Howard.

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