By: Laila Wani
"We get the media we deserve."At least this is what Brooke Gladstone argues in her book “The
Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media”. Media consumers are
content with hearing news from journalists whose views mirror their own. A
conflict in opinion makes the consumers uncomfortable and angry, but can’t seem
to make them think. And with social media, many journalists can voice their
opinions, no mater how radical they may be.
Many people complain
about modern media, saying they miss the honest days. But the old days are ones
of Yellow Journalism and other giant missteps. This is not to say that the
media of today is something to admire. We are now cluttered with professional
bloggers, or people who are free to give extremely biased versions of the news,
often not worrying about the truth. But modern media also allow those without
voices to tell their side of a story. So news now is what it has always been, a
mix of the good with the bad.
Gladstone’s expertise on the subject is rooted in her start as a
print journalist. Writing on everything from strip-mining to music reviews, the
now managing editor of NPR’s On The Media, has dabbled in a little bit of
everything.
Gladstone gives her view on the state of the media in a
fascinating fashion. The graphic novel style of the book, with illustrations
from Josh Neufeld, makes some of the history lessons easier to digest. Some
sentences may need to be read more than once if your language isn’t as elevated
as Gladstone’s, but that shouldn’t make anyone shy away from the book. It is a
good read for all, as we are all consumers of media.
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