"When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience, and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; culture-death is a clear possibility." -Neil … Continue reading The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1)
Author: Lawrence Deveney
With Teeth
"You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realise this, and you will find strength." -Marcus Aurelius "The Hand That Feeds" did well on radio, and anticipation for the new Nine Inch Nails album was high. With Teeth was released on 3 May 2005, marking a welcome return to form for many fans. Fronted … Continue reading With Teeth
Manufacturing Consent
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky Pantheon Books Inc. (1 January 2002) Amazon First published in 1988, Manufacturing Consent is about the propaganda model of communication, a model advanced by economist Edward S. Herman and the "father of modern linguistics" Noam Chomsky. Media organisations function … Continue reading Manufacturing Consent
Getting It Wrong
Getting It Wrong: Ten of the Greatest Misreported Stories in American Journalism by W. Joseph Campbell University of California Press (15 July 2010) Amazon Getting It Wrong is a deep dive into some of the most exaggerated and outright fake stories in the history of American journalism. In my last piece, I mentioned William Randolph … Continue reading Getting It Wrong
Yellow Journalism
Yellow Journalism: Puncturing the Myths, Defining the Legacies by W. Joseph Campbell Bloomsbury (1 March 2003) Amazon Yellow Journalism is a concise introduction to what this model of journalism is, and of some of the most common myths and misconceptions surrounding it. The term "yellow journalism" was originally an American colloquialism, used to describe the … Continue reading Yellow Journalism
Sound and Fury
Sound and Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy by Eric Alterman Cornell University Press (1 January 2000) Amazon In Sound and Fury, Eric Alterman discusses the decline of political discourse in the United States. Everything he says can be applied to Australia, or the U.K., or any place where news has become entertainment. He attributes … Continue reading Sound and Fury
The Hand That Feeds
"The human spirit glows from that small inner light of doubt whether we are right, while those who believe with certainty that they possess the right are dark inside and darken the world outside with cruelty, pain, and injustice." -Saul D. Alinsky "The Hand That Feeds" was the lead single from Nine Inch Nails' fourth … Continue reading The Hand That Feeds
The Brass Check
The Brass Check: A Study of American Journalism by Upton Sinclair Lulu.com (1 January 2019) Amazon The Brass Check is Upton Sinclair's account of journalism as an industry, published in 1919. The term "brass check" refers to money given secretly to journalists for their service, as a sort of pay-for-play racket of the media ecosystem … Continue reading The Brass Check
The Uncrowned King
The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst by Kenneth Whyte Counterpoint (8 December 2009) Amazon What's it about?: Kenneth Whyte's biography of William Randolph Hearst, focusing on the years of his takeover of New York magazine. It attempts to challenge the popular image of Hearst as a ruthless mogul and media tycoon, … Continue reading The Uncrowned King
War Is a Racket
War Is a Racket by Smedley D. Butler Dauphin Publications Inc. (7 May 2018) Amazon What's it about?: The famous speech and short book published in 1935 by United States Marine Corps major general Smedley D. Butler (1881-1940), on why wars are conducted. Butler describes the commercial relationship we call the military-industrial complex. He defines … Continue reading War Is a Racket
Lawrence Deveney 