November 29, 2005

The American News Media—Liberal or Conservative Bias?, a debate between political commentators Eric Alterman and Tucker Carlson, at UCSB Campbell Hall

Summary Facts:

• The American News Media—Liberal or Conservative Bias?
• A debate between Eric Alterman and Tucker Carlson
• The annual Arthur N. Rupe Great Debate
• Saturday, January 14
• 3 pm / UCSB Campbell Hall
• General public $10 / UCSB students $5
• Tickets/Information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535

Eric Alterman and Tucker Carlson will face off in the debate The American News Media—Liberal or Conservative Bias? on Saturday, January 14 at 3 pm at UCSB Campbell Hall. Eric Alterman is a columnist for The Nation and author of What Liberal Media? and When Presidents Lie: A History of Official Deception and Its Consequences. Tucker Carlson, longtime co-host of CNN’s Crossfire, currently hosts The Situation with Tucker Carlson on MSNBC. The annual Arthur N. Rupe Great Debate will be moderated by Ronald E. Rice, the Arthur N. Rupe Chair in the Social Effects of Mass Communication and Co-Director of the UCSB Center for Film, Television and New Media.

Events of the past few years have only further fueled the argument over whether the American news media suffer from a liberal or conservative bias. Critics on the right point to examples like Dan Rather’s use of memos that were later discredited to criticize President Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard as an example of liberal bias. Critics on the left suggest that the way the entire mainstream press, from the right-of-center Fox News to the frequently labeled liberal New York Times, uncritically accepted the White House and Pentagon arguments for the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq is an example of conservative bias. Exploring issues like these, Alterman and Carlson will discuss the real or perceived tendency of journalists and producers and editors within the news media to approach both the presentation of particular stories, and the selection of which stories to cover, with an unbalanced perspective.

Termed “the most honest and incisive media critic writing today” by the National Catholic Reporter, and the author of “the smartest and funniest political journal out there,” by the San Francisco Chronicle, Eric Alterman is Professor of English at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, media columnist for The Nation, the “Altercation” weblogger for MSNBC.com, and a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, where he writes and edits the “Think Again” column. Alterman is the author of the national bestsellers What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News and The Book on Bush: How George W. (Mis)leads America (co-authored with Mark Green). His most recent book is When Presidents Lie: A History of Deception and its Consequences (September, 2004). His Sound & Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy won the 1992 George Orwell Award and his It Ain’t No Sin to be Glad You’re Alive: The Promise of Bruce Springsteen won the 1999 Stephen Crane Literary Award.

Alterman is also the author of Who Speaks for America? Why Democracy Matters in Foreign Policy. A frequent lecturer and contributor to virtually every significant national news publication in the US and many in Europe, in recent years, he has also been a columnist for Worth, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones and The Sunday Express (London). A senior fellow of the World Policy Institute at New School University and former Adjunct Professor of Journalism at NYU and Columbia, Alterman received his B.A. in History and Government from Cornell, his M.A. in International Relations from Yale, and his Ph.D. in U.S. History from Stanford.

Tucker Carlson is the host of The Situation with Tucker Carlson on MSNBC (weeknights at 11 pm PT). The show is a fast paced, no-holds-barred conversation about the day’s developments in news, politics, world issues and pop culture. Carlson made his MSNBC anchoring debut during the network’s coverage of the funeral of Pope John Paul II in April 2005. He has also contributed to the network’s Hardball with Chris Matthews program with reports on the Vatican and on politics.

Carlson joined MSNBC in February 2005 from CNN, where he had served as co-host of the network’s political debate program Crossfire. He also served as co-host of CNN’s Spin Room program and as a political analyst for the network. Carlson was also host and managing editor of a weekly public affairs program on PBS, Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered.

A longtime magazine and newspaper journalist, Carlson has reported from around the world, most recently from Iraq. He has been a columnist for New York magazine and Reader’s Digest. He currently writes for Esquire, the Weekly Standard and The New York Times magazine. Carlson began his journalism career at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper in Little Rock. His first book Politicians, Partisans and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News was published in the fall 2003.

The Arthur N. Rupe Foundation made a major gift to UCSB to establish a series of debates that bring important figures from a variety of fields and disciplines to the university and the Santa Barbara community. The Arthur N. Rupe Great Debate Series explores contemporary societal issues of national and international significance through the presentation of authors, commentators, scholars and policy-makers who hold divergent viewpoints.

“Let us provide a forum to debate our nation’s and the world’s vital questions,” explains Arthur N. Rupe. “Let us seek out eminent scholars and commentators in diverse fields to present their perspectives, to challenge each other, and to grapple with the facts of these relevant issues. Hopefully, our debates will encourage and inspire students and the public to become better informed and actively engaged.”

Courtesy of Borders, books by Eric Alterman and Tucker Carlson will be available for purchase and signing at the event.

This event is presented by the UC Santa Barbara College of Letters & Science and is made possible by an endowment from the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation. It is co-presented by the Santa Barbara News-Press, UCSB Arts & Lectures, the UCSB Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, the UCSB Department of Political Science, and Young America’s Foundation.

Tickets for the event are $10 for the general public and $5 for UCSB students, who must show valid ID when purchasing tickets and at the door. Ticket prices are subject to convenience fees. Tickets are on sale now and can also be purchased at the door, if still available.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.