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Politica is a forum for independent analysis of political events around the World |
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Solomon, N. 1999. The Habits of a Highly Deceptive Media. Common Courage Press, Monroe, Maine, USA. Rating: JJJ About the Author: Noman Solomon is a political columnist and his commentaries on the media have appeared in a range of US newspapers including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times etc. He is a senior member of the FAIR organisation (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting). He is also executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. Books
by the same author: Wizards
of Media Oz (with Jeff Cohen), Through the Media Looking Glass
(with Jeff Cohen), Adventures in Medialand (with Jeff Cohen),
Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media (with
Martin A. Lee), The Trouble with Dilbert: How Corporate Culture
Gets the Last Laugh, False Hope: The Politics of Illusion in the
Clinton Era, The Power of Babble: The Politician's Dictionary
of Buzzwords and Doubletalk for Every Occasion. |
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Review Normon Solomon's book is a collection of commentaries which he has written in recent years in response to the deeply ideological propaganda machine of the media establishment. With his clear and acerbic style, he exposes the deep-seated culture of the US media, which is content to feed the public with misinformation that can serve only powerful business interests, at the expense of the general population. In many ways, this is confirmation of Noam Chomsky's "manufacturing of consent", whereby the corporate-owned press successfully fools us into supporting policies that are against our best interests. Solomon exposes the commonly-held illusion that the American media are liberal and left-wing. He also shows how the media's priorities are surreal, since they capable, for example, of going into fits of hysteria at the death of a celebrity, whilst blissfully ignoring the civilian casualties of American bombs. Anybody who is still convinced about the objectivity of the mainstream media will have their convictions shattered by Solomon's selection of case studies and analyses. Solomon's book reads like a collection of all those angry letters of complaint that we think about writing to the press and broadcasters, in response to articles and newscasts that defy logic. The trouble is that all too often, we never express our suspicions that the media is lying, for fear of not being believed. Therein lies the great victory of propaganda in the West, which is why Solomon's book is a welcome vaccine against this industry of lies. |
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