Public sees media bias. (Scan).(Brief Article)

CBS correspondent Bernie Goldberg's book that showcases liberal bias in the media (see TAE's interview with Goldberg in our March issue) has had no discernible impact on establishment journalists. Nor should any have been expected. Bias is merely the latest addition to a huge body of literature--including at least 100 books and research monographs--documenting a widespread left-wing bias in the news. Yet none of it has had much effect.

Journalists and their defenders discovered long ago that such materials could usually be ignored or dismissed as the fevered ravings of right-wing zealots. On those rare occasions when a book or article breaks through to a wider audience, all that's required is a bit of damage control. First, the author is rigorously excluded from the largest popular media (which is why Goldberg has appeared only once on any of the three major television networks, though his book spent weeks at the top of the New York Times bestseller list). Second, in the rest of the elite media the author is subjected to personal abuse (as by Tom Shales), and endless quibbling about details of his work (as in Michael Kinsley's review). Seldom does anyone bother to respond to the substance of his argument, and in the end the attention of the public moves elsewhere.

Because the media have the power to set the terms of debate, every critic can be marginalized, every study rendered "controversial." So journalists and their apologists can always claim that media bias has not been proved. That is why Tom Goldstein, dean of the prestigious Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, feels free to make the astounding assertion that, while most journalists may be liberal in their views, "no study ... has shown that the personal backgrounds and values of journalists are particularly relevant to how journalists report the news."

But there is a body of definitive evidence that proves a contrary view. Journalists like to claim that perceptions of media bias are purely a matter of perspective. They say the news is scrupulously fair and balanced, so when viewed by conservatives it appears skewed to the left, and from a liberal perspective it leans to the right. To test this contention, the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) commissioned a large-scale study of public attitudes about the press. Fielded by Louis Harris and Associates in November 1996, the telephone survey sought responses to 107 questions from a representative sample of 3,004 American adults. The unusually large sample made it possible to acquire accurate information about the views of various population subgroups.

Like earlier studies, the survey found that 74 percent of Americans see either "a great deal" (30 percent) or "a fair amount" (44 percent) of ...