Goldberg Variations
Evil genius or useful idiot? We report, you decide.
By Michael Kinsley
Posted Thursday, Jan. 10, 2002, at 4:19 PM PT
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So I was happy to get confirmation from the current best seller (categorized as nonfiction) Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News, by former CBS newsman Bernard Goldberg. The book is rich with anecdotes about the horrors—ideological and otherwise—of working for CBS, culled from Mr. Goldberg's three decades of working for CBS. He must have been chained to his TelePrompTer or something, because a man who "was once rated by TV Guide as one of the ten most interesting people on television," as his author ID brags, surely didn't need to spend all those years at a corrupt and dishonest institution.
One story has gotten the most attention.
It involves a conversation with CBS News President Andrew Heyward: " 'Look, Bernie,' he said, 'of course there's a liberal bias in the news. All the networks tilt left.' But, 'If you repeat any of this, I'll deny it.' "Bingo! This was the confirmation that I and every right-wing radio talk show host in America had been waiting for. But then I made the classic journalist's error: I checked it out.
First I talked to Mr. Goldberg himself. "Look, Mike, of course I made that story up," he said. "It's brilliant, don't you think? If Heyward denies the story, that just confirms it in people's minds. The whole vast right-wing conspiracy has fallen for it. Fox News is so grateful that Roger Ailes is sending me suitcases full of cash. And if you repeat any of this, I'll deny it.""Of course we haven't fallen for it," Ailes growled. "We just put it out there as prole meat. This Goldberg is what my Communist pals used to call a useful idiot. And what an idiot! They really don't build them like that anymore." Ailes' humor started to improve. Soon tears of happiness were streaming down his cheeks. "I mean, that stuff about CBS execs taking it up the keister from Dan Rather in prison?" He chortled, "I love it, I really do. And who cares if it's all true or not?" He winked. "We report, you decide. By the way, if you repeat any of this, I'll break your legs. And I'll deny it."
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