blican majority in Congress took a big step today on its legislative agenda to demolish or damage government aid programs, many of them designed to help children and the poor,” reports Dan Rather (Liberal Bias). After hearing such words as “demolish,” the average American automatically believes that what the Republicans are doing is harmful to society. Instead of reporting that Congress repealed some government programs, or trimmed spending, the media insisted on sensationalizing the news and making it seem as if the Congress was evil. Not to mention when the public turns out to support a conservative view, the media then works to lessen its importance and appeal. One example is the Republican victories in Congress in 1994. When reelection time came up, and Bob Dole was running for president, the media played down the sweeping reforms that took place at the hands of Congress: the welfare reform, the lobbyist reforms, or the line item veto. Instead, Katie Couric said, "Speaker Gingrich and company's Contract with America was ultimately rejected by the majority of Americans and few people believe it was really behind the GOP sweep of the congressional elections in 1994" (Liberal Bias). She wanted the public to believe that the 1994 elections were a result of voting against Clinton, and not for Republican principles. This is an obvious case of playing down the view of the public, and inserting the media’s own thoughts into the mouths of the average citizen. Perhaps the most convincing piece of evidence of media bias comes not from statistics or polls, but from the personal admissions of prominent journalists. Such journalists are the best sources for analyzing their peers and industry. One individual, CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg stated, "There are lots of reasons fewer people are watching network news, and one of them, I'm more convinced than ever, is that our viewers simply don't trust us. This is a good rea...
