Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Is American Journalism Unbiased
Aired November 30, 2002 - 07:43 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.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: You have heard the journalism slogans -- reliable, fair, balanced, unbiased. Well, that's what journalists are meant to be. And, still, many news consumers feel that reporters bring a certain bias to their coverage in the guise of objectivity. Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh who flaunts his political perspective talked about that with Howard Kurtz.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO HOST: I don't think it's possible to be unbiased if you're a thinking human being.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST "RELIABLE SOURCES": Everybody's got opinions?
LIMBAUGH: Everybody's got an opinion.
KURTZ: The question is whether they do their jobs fairly.
LIMBAUGH: But everybody wants a certain outcome if you really care about this stuff.
KURTZ: Do you think that the average White House correspondent/Pentagon reporter/Supreme Court correspondent is -- is distorting the news, and putting out some kind of Democratic agenda?
LIMBAUGH: No. I don't think it happens that way. I don't think that there's a conspiracy or a meeting every day where they get together and say OK, how can we shape events in our favor today. They just are who they are.
The difference in them and me is -- well, it's not -- it's a little bit more complex than this, but I admit what I am. I admit my political viewpoint and I'm proud of it. And I admit that I'm trying to persuade people.
Others who have bias hide behind this cloak of objectivity which I think is very hard to achieve, and doesn't really exist, and claim they're not this thing or that thing they're not oriented here or don't care about the outcome when I think they -- they actually do.
I mean, look at the way Bush was covered in the first two years. Whatever the Democratic leadership said was parroted by many in the media, dune, idiot, frat boy.
KURTZ: That's certainly not how he's been covered lately.
LIMBAUGH: No, but the first two years -- first two years. Now of course it's changed -- they skunked him. So now they've got to -- OK, he's not who he we thought he was. Oh, he's not who we tried to make him, whatever the case was. I don't know what the agenda was, but...
KURTZ: Do you believe that Howell Raines, for example, is pursuing a left wing agenda at the New York Times?
LIMBAUGH: I personally do, yes.
KURTZ: That the reporters have their marching orders; they're not independent professionals, they don't think for themselves?
LIMBAUGH: I -- well -- depends on how you define marching orders, but there is an assignment editor and there are -- there are -- you are -- the column today on Paul Krugman I noticed on the editorial page -- but so much of The Times news reporting these days seems to be editorializing, even on the front page, to me anyway.
I mean, I -- The Times to me -- I -- I -- it's one of the last newspapers I look at now. I just don't believe much of what's in it. When it comes to domestic, political news.
KURTZ: And you think it's conscious distorting of the news? Or subconscious because of the opinions and values that the journalists hold?
LIMBAUGH: Well, I think the editorial page leads it and when I read editorial...
KURTZ: Well the editorial page is for opinions.
LIMBAUGH: Well but wait now, when I see editorial pages advising Democrat leaders like Nancy Pelosi or whatever on how to behave I think that that does get transferred to reporters in what's assigned and it can show up. I mean, you have to know how to spot -- it's not blatant, but I can tell you the New York Times doesn't agree with what I think, whether it's on the front page or the editorial page.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: And you can hear more of the conversation with Rush on Reliable Sources; that's coming up at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN. Rush never short on words.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN: You have heard the journalism slogans -- reliable, fair, balanced, unbiased.>
Aired November 30, 2002 - 07:43 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: You have heard the journalism slogans -- reliable, fair, balanced, unbiased. Well, that's what journalists are meant to be. And, still, many news consumers feel that reporters bring a certain bias to their coverage in the guise of objectivity. Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh who flaunts his political perspective talked about that with Howard Kurtz.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RUSH LIMBAUGH, RADIO HOST: I don't think it's possible to be unbiased if you're a thinking human being.
HOWARD KURTZ, HOST "RELIABLE SOURCES": Everybody's got opinions?
LIMBAUGH: Everybody's got an opinion.
KURTZ: The question is whether they do their jobs fairly.
LIMBAUGH: But everybody wants a certain outcome if you really care about this stuff.
KURTZ: Do you think that the average White House correspondent/Pentagon reporter/Supreme Court correspondent is -- is distorting the news, and putting out some kind of Democratic agenda?
LIMBAUGH: No. I don't think it happens that way. I don't think that there's a conspiracy or a meeting every day where they get together and say OK, how can we shape events in our favor today. They just are who they are.
The difference in them and me is -- well, it's not -- it's a little bit more complex than this, but I admit what I am. I admit my political viewpoint and I'm proud of it. And I admit that I'm trying to persuade people.
Others who have bias hide behind this cloak of objectivity which I think is very hard to achieve, and doesn't really exist, and claim they're not this thing or that thing they're not oriented here or don't care about the outcome when I think they -- they actually do.
I mean, look at the way Bush was covered in the first two years. Whatever the Democratic leadership said was parroted by many in the media, dune, idiot, frat boy.
KURTZ: That's certainly not how he's been covered lately.
LIMBAUGH: No, but the first two years -- first two years. Now of course it's changed -- they skunked him. So now they've got to -- OK, he's not who he we thought he was. Oh, he's not who we tried to make him, whatever the case was. I don't know what the agenda was, but...
KURTZ: Do you believe that Howell Raines, for example, is pursuing a left wing agenda at the New York Times?
LIMBAUGH: I personally do, yes.
KURTZ: That the reporters have their marching orders; they're not independent professionals, they don't think for themselves?
LIMBAUGH: I -- well -- depends on how you define marching orders, but there is an assignment editor and there are -- there are -- you are -- the column today on Paul Krugman I noticed on the editorial page -- but so much of The Times news reporting these days seems to be editorializing, even on the front page, to me anyway.
I mean, I -- The Times to me -- I -- I -- it's one of the last newspapers I look at now. I just don't believe much of what's in it. When it comes to domestic, political news.
KURTZ: And you think it's conscious distorting of the news? Or subconscious because of the opinions and values that the journalists hold?
LIMBAUGH: Well, I think the editorial page leads it and when I read editorial...
KURTZ: Well the editorial page is for opinions.
LIMBAUGH: Well but wait now, when I see editorial pages advising Democrat leaders like Nancy Pelosi or whatever on how to behave I think that that does get transferred to reporters in what's assigned and it can show up. I mean, you have to know how to spot -- it's not blatant, but I can tell you the New York Times doesn't agree with what I think, whether it's on the front page or the editorial page.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CALLAWAY: And you can hear more of the conversation with Rush on Reliable Sources; that's coming up at 6:30 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN. Rush never short on words.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN: You have heard the journalism slogans -- reliable, fair, balanced, unbiased.>
