Fair And Balanced Look at Lies And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
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Fueled by mostly money and personal interest, the media has been a source of controversy, entertainment and often biased information. The book, Lies And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right by Al Franken, delves directly into sorting out just exactly what direction this media bias leans toward. In his opening chapter he states, "The right-wing media tells us constantly that the problem with the mainstream media is it has a liberal bias" (Franken 1). Franken goes on to address and consistently disprove this supposed liberal bias in the media by taking concrete instances and uncovering their right-winged bias or deliberate lies. However, Mr. Franken does not stop at simply pointing out the blatant falsehoods the media consistently spouts. He uses humor, sarcasm, and personal experiences to get his point across, and attempt to engage the reader in the critical thinking process.
Throughout the book, Franken gives examples as to how various conservatives in the media have purposely and ignorantly distorted information on a consistent basis. Some examples show how an otherwise innocent or intellectual quote or circumstance is taken out of context until the meaning is completely changed or lost. For example, after reading Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distorts the News, by Bernie Goldberg, Al Franken felt he had some issues with some of the information in the book...