Tell us if Goldberg is wrong about Eric Engberg's shoddy journalism.
Isn't Goldberg's premise that the media is biased to the left?
Goldberg published a piece in the Wall Street Journal slamming Eric Engberg. Engberg had done a "Reality Check" on the CBS Evening News which trashed the Steve Forbes "flat tax" proposal; Goldberg denounced Engberg’s "Check" for its liberal bias. But Goldberg’s treatment of the Engberg piece is a perfect example of his larger method—the anecdotal approach which can feel so good, but is so worthless for those who aren’t spoutin’.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume that Engberg’s report was unfair to Forbes. Does that show Engberg has "liberal bias?" Wouldn’t you want to review the gentleman’s other reports before making such a sweeping accusation? In fact, just a few weeks before he beat up on Forbes, Engberg did a "Check" trashing Hillary Clinton for Whitewater and the travel office firings. The report featured a few bits of bogus reporting which drove the coverage of those two matters. So what kind of "bias" did this report show? Did this piece show a conservative bias? And—reviewing Engberg’s work in the year before he slammed Forbes—what kind of bias was Engberg showing on April 6, 1995? On that day, the scribe reviewed the first 100 days of the new Gingrich Congress:
ENGBERG (4/6/95): They scoffed last fall when Newt Gingrich said a Republican House would slam-dunk the status quo…Time out! They did it. Politicians actually keeping a promise?
And what bias was he showing on May 24? Here’s how Engberg closed a "Reality Check" about GOP proposals to balance the budget:
ENGBERG (5/24/95): Fiscal fantasy number four is that a balanced budget cures all ills…It’s future generations that really benefit. But the fiscal discipline that might be imposed by the GOP plans could be a welcome step away from fiscal fantasyland. Eric Engberg, CBS News, Washington.
In that report, Engberg criticized past, failed efforts to balance the budget, saying, "Best sign that this year is different? The Republicans are going after big-dollar entitlement spending." And what was the bias on November 20, when Engberg said that "the Republicans’ call for $245 billions in tax cuts which the Democrats say are heavily weighted toward the wealthy" really weren’t that big a deal? "That’s because even with this cut, the IRS will still collect $13 trillion over the next seven years," Engberg said. "A $245 billion slice of that is just 2 percent, a drop in the bucket."
So Pomeroo, you seem to really enjoy the works of Goldberg, having brought his name up numerous times recently. Yet as a self-professed skeptic, look at his work obejctively. Does he do anything more than offer anecdotes? Does he perform any actual analysis? Any studies? Now, isn't anecdotal evidence just a shade above worthless?
Really, if Goldberg is going to excoriate Engberg and use him as an example of liberal bias, shouldn't he check to see if Engberg is (relatively) consistent in his liberal bias?
Pomeroo, go re-read
Bias and pretend you are a scientist. Tell me what evidence he provides other than anecdotal (which I am not meaning to totally dismiss). Then we can discuss whether it is appropriate for you to keep citing it as some sort of definitive source for the claim of liberal bias.