Good old Bernie Goldberg. Apparently he was moved, perhaps by the fact that he gets paid by Fox News, to come out against those conservatives, whom he describes as a “segment of the Fox audience” and whom he apparently regards as rabidly biased.:
Conservatives Who Never Really Wanted Fair and Balanced
“Here’s the dirty little secret: A segment of the Fox audience never wanted fair and balanced news and opinion. They wanted a conservative slant – on news, on commentary, on everything. If they could get the weather from a conservative who would bash liberals while telling us it’s going to rain today, that would be just dandy with them. They don’t want a bias-free news channel, no matter what they say. They want a news organization that caters to their own biases; that validates their own biases. And a lot of the time, they felt, that’s exactly what they got.
“But they didn’t get it during the GOP debate. That’s when they got real journalism. And that’s never what a lot of them ever really wanted.”
The “real journalism” Bernie refers to is the kind we saw in the GOP debate last week. And indeed the “performance” of the moderators did not go over well with “that segment” of Fox viewers. Bernie is really upset that we would be critical of the snarky, “gotcha” questions hurled at Donald Trump. (He didn’t note that many of us also did not like the treatment Dr. Carson and Ted Cruz received at the hands of the moderators apparently trying to minimize their exposure.)
Bernie suggests that the same type of questions, if not asked of Democratic candidates by liberal debate moderators would cause “that segment” of Fox viewers to react with outrage and charge bias.
Ergo, Bernie concludes, we (“that segment”) are unreasonable and, worse yet, have never wanted “fair and balanced news and opinion.”
Well Bernie, that’s certainly one way to look at it. But first of all, liberal moderators never have, nor are likely to ever in the future, ask equivalent accusatory questions, adopting the narrative of the opposition, of Democratic candidates or treat Republicans with any “fairness and balance” (see “Candy Crowley, circa 2012).
Secondly, the questions that Fox’s panel asked of Trump and the general treatment of other truly conservative candidates, are precisely the kind liberal moderators will ask of GOP candidates in future debates.
And this, Bernie, is the issue: The questions the Fox panel directed to certain candidates on that stage, in the opinion of those of us in “that segment” you sneeringly refer to, were intended, not to expose the various candidates’ positions on the critical issues but rather to “take out” certain candidates.
We will get plenty of that by liberal “moderators” in the future debates and that is precisely why we expected the Fox team to provide a more substantive forum for the candidates to present their concerns, positions, and solutions to the critical issues America faces.
We understand, Bernie, that Fox knows they “stepped in it” last Thursday night and that Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace lost, perhaps forever, their “rock star” appeal to “that segment” of Fox viewers, many of whom may be characterized as “former” Fox viewers.
We also understand that you are compelled to rush your “wagon to the circle”. But to characterize a large segment of the Fox “audience” as disinterested in a “bias-free” news channel is not only a gross misperception, it is insulting in the extreme.
Have a nice weekend Bernie! DLH
Fair and balanced was a marketing ploy by Fox. Repeating liberal nostrums is not fair and balanced if conservative views are constricted to accommodate the already ubiquitous liberal narrative. I prefer the Limbaugh formulation of ” I am the balance . . . the antidote.” Liberal views are only necessary on a conservative outlet for context or as a foil . It is no virtue to impart equal time to narratives that are already everywhere.
And by the way Bernie’s juxtaposition of Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow – well that is the point, it night as well have been them doing the “moderation.”