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thomas_edmund 's review for:
Reading this book (published first in 2009) at the end of 2017 raises much curiosity how Davies would react and analysis today's "fake-news" "Post-Truth" environment. In many respects Flat-Earth News lays the ground-work for modern 'news' and explains clearly how we got to this place of political echo chambers, shareable garbage and click-bait. The greatest irony is towards the conclusion of the story Davies saw the internet as a possible solution to the problem of inaccurate and biased media.
Anywho as to the book itself, I absolutely loved it, while written quite densely and unapologetically thorough Flat-Earth News provides an excellent review and explanation of how and why news is so often warped, spun, biased and sometimes outright wrong. While I think most of us have a general sense that there is something a bit off about journalism and news, Davies does a brilliant job of summarizing the issues pointing out that its not so much that people peddle "fake-news" its more a systemic problem of PR, profits, manpower and politics. Probably the most alarming thing for me wasn't actually the racist spins, the invention of facts or absurd lack of checking, but the omissions - the fact that despite how it feels, the world isn't covered in media, much of foreign and internal news is simply generated by 'expert' opinion and the is a massive dearth of journalists on the ground.
The best thing about Flat-Earth News is that Davies perspective is relatively balanced. He is one of the few non-fiction writers I've picked up (possibly the only) that actually pointed out his conflicts of interest in the beginning of the story, and while he does have some opinions and obvious stances he doesn't pick on any particular cause or political wings, for example he reveals the poor tactics of both big petroleum companies and environmental groups in the same chapter.
Overall this book is a must read for anyone wanting to understand journalism and media better, especially in today's somewhat toxic environment - "It's not a conspiracy, its a mess"
Anywho as to the book itself, I absolutely loved it, while written quite densely and unapologetically thorough Flat-Earth News provides an excellent review and explanation of how and why news is so often warped, spun, biased and sometimes outright wrong. While I think most of us have a general sense that there is something a bit off about journalism and news, Davies does a brilliant job of summarizing the issues pointing out that its not so much that people peddle "fake-news" its more a systemic problem of PR, profits, manpower and politics. Probably the most alarming thing for me wasn't actually the racist spins, the invention of facts or absurd lack of checking, but the omissions - the fact that despite how it feels, the world isn't covered in media, much of foreign and internal news is simply generated by 'expert' opinion and the is a massive dearth of journalists on the ground.
The best thing about Flat-Earth News is that Davies perspective is relatively balanced. He is one of the few non-fiction writers I've picked up (possibly the only) that actually pointed out his conflicts of interest in the beginning of the story, and while he does have some opinions and obvious stances he doesn't pick on any particular cause or political wings, for example he reveals the poor tactics of both big petroleum companies and environmental groups in the same chapter.
Overall this book is a must read for anyone wanting to understand journalism and media better, especially in today's somewhat toxic environment - "It's not a conspiracy, its a mess"