Appearing on Fox News's O'Reilly Factor Tuesday night, media analyst Bernard Goldberg praised reporter Sharyl Attkisson for calling out the liberal bias of her former employer, CBS News, in her upcoming book. He then lamented the difficultly in ending such bias: "But here's why the problem is not going to go away. Even if top management wants to eliminate this liberal bias, there are too many producers and reporters in important positions at all the networks who are liberal, and who let their liberalism affect their journalism."
Goldberg proposed a way to stop the problem: "There's only one solution, only one. And I don't think anybody has the guts to implement it. And that is, if you're a repeat offender and you let your biases show, you not only get fired, you get publicly fired, and the management let's everybody know why you got fired. And perhaps that will make the rank and file, you know, come into line."
Host Bill O'Reilly observed: "That's not gonna happen. A lot of people are comfortable with that climate over there. Thank God, because that's what makes Fox News successful, because we're the alternative to that."
Here is a transcript of the October 28 exchange:
8:42 PM ET
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BILL O'REILLY: Sharyl Attkisson, good reporter, you would admit that, alright?
BERNARD GOLDBERG: Yeah.
O'REILLY: Former CBS investigative correspondent. New book out, I guess it's a week from today. Getting a lot of, you know, attention because she's saying that a number of stories she developed were spiked for ideological reasons at CBS News. Ben Rhodes, the [CBS News] president, his brother is in the White House. Or is it vice versa? It's the Rhodes brothers. There's a connection there. And as you know, the liberal template that exists at all three networks still is in play. And Ms. Attkisson ran up against it and got hammered.
Now, you haven't read the book. I haven't read the book. But is there anything new here that you didn't know?
GOLDBERG: Well, first of all, as you know, in 2001, in December of 2001, my book, Bias, came out, which broke ground because, to the best of my knowledge, I was the first person who worked at a major news organization – CBS News for 28 years – who said in effect, "You know, the conservatives are right. There is a liberal bias in the news." She's doing that today with her evidence and good for her.
But here's why the problem is not going to go away. Even if top management wants to eliminate this liberal bias, there are too many producers and reporters in important positions at all the networks who are liberal, and who let their liberalism affect their journalism. There's only one solution, only one. And I don't think anybody has the guts to implement it. And that is, if you're a repeat offender and you let your biases show, you not only get fired, you get publicly fired and the management let's everybody know why you got fired. And perhaps that will make the rank and file, you know, come into line.
O'REILLY: That's not gonna happen. A lot of people are comfortable with that climate over there. Thank God, because that's what makes Fox News successful, because we're the alternative to that.
(...)
