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What Liberal Media?
Book

What Liberal Media?

The Truth About Bias and the News

Eric Alterman
Basic Books, 2003

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Eye Opening
  • Well Structured

Recommendation

Constructing a cohesive, logical argument to refute the often-repeated claim that the media has a liberal bias requires careful planning and airtight evidence. Yet author Eric Alterman makes a strong case that, if anything, the media is dominated by conservatives who promote the findings of well-funded partisan think tanks, help book publishers who produce poorly researched ideological books, support incendiary TV and radio pundits, and abet editorialists who push the conservative line. Their goal, Alterman alleges, is to quash intelligent political debate and reduce complex arguments to simplistic black and white alternatives - all in support of a right-leaning political agenda. The book is thoroughly researched and documented, if sometimes so absorbed in its own point of view and so esoteric that only the most dedicated reader will follow it. getAbstract recommends this book to everyone interested in fostering more balanced political discussion.

Take-Aways

  • While the incendiary charge that the media has a "liberal bias" is repeated often, it is very difficult to define and even harder to prove.
  • No measurable evidence proves any liberal media bias.
  • Conservative interest groups have repeated their "liberal bias" argument in the past three elections as a way of advancing their ideology.

About the Author

Eric Alterman is professor of English at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, media columnist for The Nation, the Altercation" weblogger for MSNBC.com and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, where he writes and edits the "Think Again" column. Alterman is the author of the national bestsellers The Truth About Bias and the News (2003, 2004) and The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America (with Mark Green, 2004). His newest book is When Presidents Lie: A History of Deception and its Consequences (September, 2004). His Sound & Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy (1992, 2000), won the 1992 George Orwell Award and his It Ain’t No Sin to be Glad You’re Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen (1999, 2001) won the 1999 Stephen Crane Literary Award. Alterman is also the author of Who Speaks for America? Why Democracy Matters in Foreign Policy (1998). A frequent lecturer and contributor to virtually every significant national publication in the US and many in Europe, in recent years, he has also been a columnist for: Worth, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones and The Sunday Express (London). A senior fellow of the World Policy Institute at New School University, Alterman received his B.A., his M.A. in International Relations from Yale and his Ph.D. in U.S. History from Stanford. He is at working on a history of postwar American liberalism.

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