This book takes a hard look at the devolution of the news industry from fact-based reporting to a carefully crafted product guided by powerful entities and big money. Over the past few years, the “news” has disintegrated into a politically driven narrative designed to control the information viewers have access to. Investigative journalists have watched as their producers omit any of their findings that do not fit within the narrative. Today’s news programs not only rely on sketchy sources such as pundits and anonymous sources to craft this narrative, they feature them as lead stories. Any bit of news making it on the air that contradicts the narrative is labeled as misinformation, fake news, or conspiracy theories.
Attkisson interviews dozens of some of the top current and former insiders such as executives, reporters, and producers. Their experiences highlight the vast changes within the industry as well as the means by which news organizations create and prioritize biased narratives and bury any facts that counter the narrative.
An especially illustrative section of the book provides evidence of “mistake” after “mistake” perpetuated by respected media outlets. Attkisson documents that even when caught in their falsehoods, most never apologized or rescinded their original stories. Although the situation is grim, Attkisson believes that the recent emergence and popularity of independent, alternative media provides cause for hope that true journalism can be revived. She points out that fading trust in mainstream media has pushed people to seek out the alternative sources of information.
Suffice it to say, this is another great read by Attkisson, one of the best investigative journalists around. She documents all of her claims with evidence and has some great suggestions for the revival of journalism that are certainly worth considering.