Bernard Goldberg
Played by Bernard Goldberg
Bernard Goldberg is known as one of the preeminent writers and reporters in the television news industry. Prior to joining HBO’s Real Sports in 1999, he served as a correspondent for CBS News, reporting on assignments all over the world, and won six Emmy Awards for his work.
In April 2001, Bernard won his seventh Emmy, his first Sports Emmy with HBO, when his June 2000 segment entitled “Dominican Free For All,” earned the award for “Outstanding Sports Journalism.” Investigating recruiting practices used by Major League baseball teams in the Dominican Republic, his report helped to uncover a system where talented prospects fudge their ages, pay for fake birth certificates and in some cases actually assume the identity of a deceased cousin in order to appear younger and, therefore, more attractive to big league scouts.
Goldberg has reported on a wide array of topics for Real Sports, ranging from penetrating investigations to lighthearted satire to revealing interviews. In October 2002, he conducted the first interview with former NFL lineman Esera Tuaolo, in which Tuaolo announced his homosexuality and talked about his closeted lifestyle in the masculine world of pro football. His investigations have uncovered the disturbing realities faced by professional jockeys in the high-stakes world of horse racing, scrutinized the potential dangers of Androstenedione, the performance-enhancing supplement widely used by high school athletes, and examined security preparations for the 2004 Olympic Games. Bernie’s sharp sense of humor has been on display in entertaining reports on serial streaker Mark Roberts and the biting behind-the-scenes look at the pomp and pageantry of the Westminster Dog Show.
A penetrating Real Sports story reported by Goldberg in the fall of 2004 examined the illegal use of young boys as camel jockey in the United Arab Emirates and caused
Goldberg’s investigative reporting earned additional Sports Emmys for “Outstanding Sports Journalism” for his 2007 report on the effects of concussions on NFL players and the 2008 examination of the slaughter of thoroughbred horses.
Teaming up with the Real Sports investigative team, Goldberg earned another Sports Emmy for “Outstanding Sports Journalism” for the 2010 eye-opening report “The Missing Link,” demonstrating the scientific link between sports concussions and ALS. In January of 2012, Real Sports received its second duPont Award from Columbia University for Goldberg’s groundbreaking reporting on concussions in pro sports.
Goldberg served as the reporter on the 2011 story “The College Bowl Game Money Trail,” which captured the Sports Emmy for “Outstanding Sports Journalism.”
Goldberg was part of the correspondent team that delivered the July 2016 expose on the International Olympic Committee that earned the show its 18th overall “Outstanding Sports Journalism” trophy from the Sports Emmy organization.
In the spring of 2017, Goldberg’s eye-opening report on the dangers of playing youth football in America was recognized at the 38th annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards. The segment received the trophy for Outstanding Investigative reporting in a newsmagazine program. It marked Real Sports' first-ever News & Documentary Emmy.
A graduate of Rutgers University, Goldberg is the author of five best-selling books, Bias, Arrogance, 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America, A Slobbering Love Affair and Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right.
