jmatthiass's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely fantastic and, in my view, an antidote to the modern hyperanxiousness that masquerades as hyperconnectedness or hyperawareness (to the “news.”)
Crucial takeaways:
The corporate media is selling you a product, and different audiences get different products. Why? Because people like identifying with things; replacing their own beliefs and critical faculties with those prepackaged for them. This becomes tribalist when Your Brand is better than Their Brand.
The breadth of public dialogue is artificially filtered upstream, and that filtering gets more and more identitarian and divisive the further downstream it flows.
What passes for journalistic “courage” these days is weak and commodified. Standing up to Trump (an easy target) doesn’t hold a candle to standing up (substantively) to corporate interests.
And, from Taibbi, the key bit:
“It turns out we let our electoral process devolve into something so fake and dysfunctional that any half-bright con man with the stones to try it could walk right through the front door and tear it to shreds on the first go.”
Crucial takeaways:
The corporate media is selling you a product, and different audiences get different products. Why? Because people like identifying with things; replacing their own beliefs and critical faculties with those prepackaged for them. This becomes tribalist when Your Brand is better than Their Brand.
The breadth of public dialogue is artificially filtered upstream, and that filtering gets more and more identitarian and divisive the further downstream it flows.
What passes for journalistic “courage” these days is weak and commodified. Standing up to Trump (an easy target) doesn’t hold a candle to standing up (substantively) to corporate interests.
And, from Taibbi, the key bit:
“It turns out we let our electoral process devolve into something so fake and dysfunctional that any half-bright con man with the stones to try it could walk right through the front door and tear it to shreds on the first go.”
rick2's review against another edition
4.0
I unabashedly have a huge journalism crush on Matt Taibbi. I think his work on the financial crisis of 2008 was fantastic. His snarky depictions of current political figures are laugh out loud funny.
This book was a little less morally righteous and snarky humorous than other Taibbi books. I had the impression from the first chapter that Matt was being really self critical and possibly needed a cup of coco and a hug. By the second chapter I was ready to make some calls to see if we knew his wareabouts. I think the post election time was really tough on him.
But do I think that level of self criticality is needed if one wants to be a serious journalist today. So much of the news today is drivel, and Matt wades onto the shit. This book is a good look at structural issues with journalism today. And while Matt explains how he originally set out to rehash Manufacturing Consent, I’m glad it got knocked off track. Matt isn’t Chomsky. The deeper examinations do a good job of staying grounded and approachable, while many of the in between parts are entertaining. It’s like you took Chomsky and gave him a bit or razzle dazzle. Chomsky in tap shoes. With a swing band.
The stuff I didn’t see Matt dig into that I think is warranted as a next step is the total disregard of almost all news as having content. I mean, outside a few pieces a year and some local stuff, does any of it matter? Matt gets part of the way there but I think he still wants to believe in some sort of journalistic integrity or value to rehashing elections and whatnot.
I’ll grant that some reporters are doing good, even noble, work. However, the majority of people I know my age don’t really ascribe to a specific network or news source. My observation is that people in their mid to late 20s gather their news from a variety of sources, from YouTube videos to reddit posts, and what results is an even more trivialized form of news almost along the lines of “news porn”. Headlines give a tiny confirmation bias and hit of dopamine, then most people don’t even bother to read the full article.
I’ve already recommended this book to a few friends and the general consensus has been “oh yeah Fox News is totally a bullshit news source” which misses the point. Or maybe underscores the point. Anyways it’s all fucked. It’s all entertainment. Go for a walk in nature. Bake your neighbor’s a cake or something that does some good for the community.
This book was a little less morally righteous and snarky humorous than other Taibbi books. I had the impression from the first chapter that Matt was being really self critical and possibly needed a cup of coco and a hug. By the second chapter I was ready to make some calls to see if we knew his wareabouts. I think the post election time was really tough on him.
But do I think that level of self criticality is needed if one wants to be a serious journalist today. So much of the news today is drivel, and Matt wades onto the shit. This book is a good look at structural issues with journalism today. And while Matt explains how he originally set out to rehash Manufacturing Consent, I’m glad it got knocked off track. Matt isn’t Chomsky. The deeper examinations do a good job of staying grounded and approachable, while many of the in between parts are entertaining. It’s like you took Chomsky and gave him a bit or razzle dazzle. Chomsky in tap shoes. With a swing band.
The stuff I didn’t see Matt dig into that I think is warranted as a next step is the total disregard of almost all news as having content. I mean, outside a few pieces a year and some local stuff, does any of it matter? Matt gets part of the way there but I think he still wants to believe in some sort of journalistic integrity or value to rehashing elections and whatnot.
I’ll grant that some reporters are doing good, even noble, work. However, the majority of people I know my age don’t really ascribe to a specific network or news source. My observation is that people in their mid to late 20s gather their news from a variety of sources, from YouTube videos to reddit posts, and what results is an even more trivialized form of news almost along the lines of “news porn”. Headlines give a tiny confirmation bias and hit of dopamine, then most people don’t even bother to read the full article.
I’ve already recommended this book to a few friends and the general consensus has been “oh yeah Fox News is totally a bullshit news source” which misses the point. Or maybe underscores the point. Anyways it’s all fucked. It’s all entertainment. Go for a walk in nature. Bake your neighbor’s a cake or something that does some good for the community.
thebrettclark's review against another edition
5.0
Enjoyed the book. It was a big confirmation bias for my thoughts that the media sucks and causes more problems then they solve. I would like to read a book that would try to refute my beliefs.
pete0926's review against another edition
4.0
I will pretty much read any book that Mr. Taibbi writes at this point. I just really enjoy his writing/speaking style and I ALWAYS learn something from his books.
I thought HATE INC was well written and really shined a light onto the media industry in it's current form. They don't really care about presenting the news anymore, they care about stirring the pot and making us tune in every night to learn about something else to get pissed off about. It's quite sad really.
I thought HATE INC was well written and really shined a light onto the media industry in it's current form. They don't really care about presenting the news anymore, they care about stirring the pot and making us tune in every night to learn about something else to get pissed off about. It's quite sad really.
czytomasz's review against another edition
4.0
Najcenniejszym fragmentem tej książki okazał się być dla mnie ten na temat progu wejścia do zawodu dziennikarza i jego bezpośredni związek z przynależnością klasową. Dużo jest tu takich drobnych elementów, które wydają się być całkowicie logiczne, a jednak wcześniej się nad nimi nie zastanawiałem. Poza tym autor opiera się tu wyłącznie na mediach amerykańskich i szczegółach chociażby kampanii prezydenckiej. Nie znałem wielu nazwisk i nazw własnych dotyczących mniejszych lub większych afer, ale i tak czytało się dobrze i w pewnym stopniu można odnieść ją do naszych realiów (khym khym TVP khym).
djkern's review against another edition
4.0
- News organizations should not be a vehicle for a political party.
- News organizations need to challenge everything, including their own audience.
Everyone, no matter what religion - er, I mean - political ideology they belong to should read this book. It holds back no punches on both sides and calls them all out, which I absolutely love, and holds the media accountable for the damage they have done over the years in intentionally driving people apart. It provides an inside look at journalism and how they have lowered their standards for reporting, all from a journalist who was part of the problem, which I really appreciated (although it would've been nice if the author narrated the audiobook himself). I also wish it offered more of a hopeful resolution and where we go from here besides just not watching/reading the news altogether, but hey, I can get down with that while staying informed on the facts - minus the biased slant, sensationalized drama, love of hate, and constant fear mongering. I lost track of how many times I nodded my head in agreement because there were so many good takeaways and lines, like the 2 above that I kicked off this review with. There are plenty more, including "The Media's 10 Rules for Hate" section (#1 being 'there are only two ideas' and #10 being 'feel superior'...yep, I can see that). I just wish people would set the red vs. blue ideology aside instead of aligning themselves with a side and not budging no matter what. But, that's what the media has trained their audiences to do.
And like the author mentions, we never hear from the 45% of Americans who don't vote in the news...think about that.
- News organizations need to challenge everything, including their own audience.
Everyone, no matter what religion - er, I mean - political ideology they belong to should read this book. It holds back no punches on both sides and calls them all out, which I absolutely love, and holds the media accountable for the damage they have done over the years in intentionally driving people apart. It provides an inside look at journalism and how they have lowered their standards for reporting, all from a journalist who was part of the problem, which I really appreciated (although it would've been nice if the author narrated the audiobook himself). I also wish it offered more of a hopeful resolution and where we go from here besides just not watching/reading the news altogether, but hey, I can get down with that while staying informed on the facts - minus the biased slant, sensationalized drama, love of hate, and constant fear mongering. I lost track of how many times I nodded my head in agreement because there were so many good takeaways and lines, like the 2 above that I kicked off this review with. There are plenty more, including "The Media's 10 Rules for Hate" section (#1 being 'there are only two ideas' and #10 being 'feel superior'...yep, I can see that). I just wish people would set the red vs. blue ideology aside instead of aligning themselves with a side and not budging no matter what. But, that's what the media has trained their audiences to do.
And like the author mentions, we never hear from the 45% of Americans who don't vote in the news...think about that.
heytheredilara's review against another edition
5.0
At the end of the book, Chomsky says: "read the news, but read it with your eyes open". This book is sort of an elaboration on Herman and Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. It inspired me once again, to hate establishments and not the people. There are a lot of amazing teachings in the book, one that stood out to me the most was how today's media was a longer version of the Orwellian "2 minute hate", just finger wagging constantly. I hope I can refrain from doing that in the future.
manny_calavera's review against another edition
4.0
Taibbi gives an update on manufacturing consent and also has an interview from Chomsky at the end. I like how he takes several examples to say that news is a consumer product and how it has been catering to our divisions.
A lot of the examples were US centric and I felt he should have given some more from other European Publications but overall it was a good read
A lot of the examples were US centric and I felt he should have given some more from other European Publications but overall it was a good read
readers_block's review against another edition
3.0
I really do like Matt Taibbi and was excited to read this. It's actually pretty funny and there were times where I actually laughed out loud (the aside about Wolf Blitzer, for one). But this is a bit more of a rant, albeit a very intelligent and informative rant, than a cohesive story.
Taibbi is extremely knowledgeable about his subject and honest about his own shortcomings in relation to the industry.
The one thing I wish is that he had focused on potential fixes for what he deems a huge problem in media. It felt a bit hopeless and unsolvable, rather than giving any insight into what people might be able to do differently in terms of both news consumption and news writing.
Taibbi is extremely knowledgeable about his subject and honest about his own shortcomings in relation to the industry.
The one thing I wish is that he had focused on potential fixes for what he deems a huge problem in media. It felt a bit hopeless and unsolvable, rather than giving any insight into what people might be able to do differently in terms of both news consumption and news writing.