"Let's be kind to one another. We're just wicked people living among wicked people. Only one thing can give us peace, and that's a pact of mutual leniency." -Seneca The term "nu-metal" has always been a misnomer to me, since it's often used to lump in a bunch of bands that really have nothing in … Continue reading Right Here
Author: Lawrence Deveney
News from Nowhere
News from Nowhere: Television and the News by Edward J. Epstein Fodor's Travel Publications (12 March 1974) Amazon I am a big fan of Edward J. Epstein's work, News from Nowhere being chief among them. No media-literacy reading list could be complete without at least a couple of his books. Those who have read Trust … Continue reading News from Nowhere
It’s Not News, It’s Fark
It's Not News, It's Fark: Now Mainstream Media Tries to Pass Off Crap as News by Drew Curtis Avery (29 May 2008) Amazon I used to love Fark.com back in the day, and I'm glad it's still around. One of the biggest news aggregators out there, it gave founder Drew Curtis enough material to write … Continue reading It’s Not News, It’s Fark
Bennett’s New York Herald and the Rise of the Popular Press
Bennett's New York Herald and the Rise of the Popular Press by James L. Crouthamel Syracuse University Press (30 September 2018) Amazon James Gorden Bennett's New York Herald was NY's first cheap, popular, mass-circulation paper, and in this text, James L. Crouthamel examines the ways in which it covered the news. It's not a comprehensive … Continue reading Bennett’s New York Herald and the Rise of the Popular Press
The Unquestionable Truth (Part 1)
"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)
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
Lawrence Deveney 