Expose

One word which suitably describes the book is brave! It is bold, courageous and out and out. It is well documented and honest. The president of CBS News, Andrew Heyward told Goldberg says, “of course there’s a liberal bias in the news. All the networks tilt left. We all know it- the whole damn world knows it- but that doesn’t mean that we have to put it on air!” Well Goldberg did.

He could have said all the things he said in the Wall Street Journal and a lot more, without using his name, but he had the guts to attach his name to what he believed.

Alan Keyes discusses media bias with Bernard Goldberg

The reaction at CBS was predictable: Goldberg, who had worked his way up to the top of CBS news, winning several Emmys, was almost fired, given no assignments for several months, and then marginalized to bouncing from one forgotten news magazine to another for four years, until he retired in 2000.

However, outside the media world, and even with a few quiet voices of support inside the media, Goldberg gained a national voice - all for saying what everyone else could see and yet what the media continues to deny.

The book is quirky and is heaped with sarcasm and is hence an interesting read. Goldberg has written his mind without as such sparing anybody, breaking ranks and naming names.

Liberal Media Bias - Bernard Goldberg on O'Reilly Factor

However, the book blatantly attacks not just the liberal bias but certain former colleagues of Goldberg’s as well. At times the criticism comes across to be greater than required, almost as if the book is a platform to get back at them. However the book is an invaluable aid and helps in carefully contemplating the implications of what we see in the media. We can use the knowledge gained in this process to challenge the media themselves.

Read more:

• http://www.mrc.org/biasbasics/biasbasics2admissions.asp
• http://books.google.co.in/books?id=SX2uNnWbvEQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=bias+cnn+insider&source=bl&ots=pscxhq31gg&sig=7JcfbnRkc724ssuVHNEcpNYJ7d8&hl=en&ei=EKdJTbykNYLnrAeIlOCCDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Goldberg
• http://www.bernardgoldberg.com/

http://www.flipkart.com/bias-bernard-goldberg-cbs-insider-book-0060520841

 

Sanhita Sinha Chowdhury

Femina’s Leading Lady

Vimla Patil’s motivation for penning her memoirs My Times is to tell “the story of the impact of such a journal [Femina] and … [paint] the portrait of an organisation which made such a journal possible. I don’t feel that she manages to do either in entirety.

Patil’s book seems to be divided into two; the good and the bad. In the first few chapters successes seem to be around every corner. She appears to have Midas’s touch. Femina does well consistently, with almost no pitfalls. And so does the Miss India venture. Any problems or hindrances that might have been there are usually skimmed over or overcome. This makes her memoirs appear not entirely genuine, like a part of the story is being withheld. I feel her achievements would have had a greater impact on the reader if equal importance had been given to shortcomings and successes.

Furthermore, her intention was to tell the story of the impact of Femina. This she does only in one chapter when she talks about eminent doctors demystifying women’s health issues in the journal. In many of the other chapters she details what how women’s status changed in three decades but does not clearly outline Femina’s contribution to the cause.

The last half a dozen chapters all focus almost entirely on the negative. She writes about Samir Jain and his abhorrent management policies, and has dedicated an entire chapter to Pritish Nandy’s inadequacies. She did have to deal with Nandy quite a bit but not so much with Jain. Thus most of her criticisms concerning Samir Jain are just hearsay and not based on first hand knowledge.

As the editor of one of India’s longest running women centric journals, I expected much more from Patil’s memoirs. But unfortunately, My Times fails to deliver an impact the way it was intentioned.

Read more:

• http://feminamissindia.indiatimes.com/

• http://www.femina.in/

• http://www.writerfind.com/vpatil.htm

http://www.a1books.co.in/my-times-memoirs/itemdetail/8174761489/

Jerusha Chande