Customer Reviews

It's Not News, It's Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap As News

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really started out liking this book. The guy is right about the fake news stories, the filler and the crap in the news. I was reading this thing and enjoying the heck out of it. Its an okay read. But as I got deeper in the book I got bored as once you understand the crap thats out there it doesnt matter much what 'type' it is. But my hats off to the guy for creating a business out of this nonsense. Its fun and interesting ... to a point.

The Fark.com website is a hilarious indictment of the ridiculousness and uselessness of Mass Media, and this here book is meant mostly for laughs. (Solid in-depth critiques of stupid news, usually with a focus on corporate/advertiser pressure, are easily found elsewhere.) On the good side, Drew Curtis has some pretty good insights on why news is so dumb these days, from the perspective of the informed outside observer. Good examples are his solid hatchet jobs on news coverage of Janet Jackson's Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction or Dick Cheney's face shooting incident. Curtis also has a pretty well-considered closing chapter on how Mass Media is failing in light of the Internet, shooting down the old boys who continue to live with their heads in the sand.

But Curtis keeps falling back into thin examples of ridiculous stories that amount to little more than a boring list. There is also a lot of unintentional irony here, as Curtis is guilty of many of weaknesses that he sarcastically condemns from Mass Media. For example, he blasts mainstream journalists for a lack of fact-checking. But here he states that Alexander Hamilton is on the $20 bill; and says he was in middle school when Johnny Carson left his show (1992) after earlier saying several times that he was in college in the early 90s. Also, Curtis slams journalists for pasting old material into new stories to take up space. But a large amount of space in this book is pasted submissions from the Fark.com message board. A few of these are surprisingly insightful but most are the cheeky pseudo-commentary that you'd expect.

This book is still good for laughs as you read about instances of stupid journalism from lazy journalists. But it's unclear how serious Curtis is trying to be in terms of analysis and insight on very important media issues. But in the end, this book gives the impression that it doesn't take its subject matter too seriously. Readers with the same mindset will enjoy it - for a while. [~doomsdayer520~]

If you have little idea how the media works, and often wonder why Paris Hilton is given the "Breaking News" treatment while child soldiers in Uganda are buried on CNN's website, this is a good introduction. Much of the news is built on gimmicks that work to get said medium (TV, newspaper, radio, internet, etc) more eyeballs, more ratings, and more ads dollars. Here, Drew Curtis is on solid ground when he exposes he gimmickery involved in modern news media -- and often how shameless it is.

However, after awhile the format of the book sinks into a rut. Silly abuse after silly abuse is shown -- along with Farker's comments. It's not that they are bad, but rather they usually follow a pattern of having little to do with the issue at hand. Rather, they come off like Leno's late-night jokes - sometimes really funny, sometimes really dumb. After awhile, you get the hint. For someone who is first looking into media criticism (beyond accusations of bias and 'corporate' control), this is a good place to start getting your bearings. Otherwise, the aformentioned Neil Postman book is probably a good companion or substitute.

Still, this is a good place to start for everyone who has watched the nightly news and said to yourself "this isn't news." You're not alone.

This book's entertaining as a look into the types of stories that get recycled, hyped unnecessarily, etc. by major news outlets. But it's not sure whether it wants to be a "best of wacky Fark highlights" collection or a substantive critique of the state of news...the author even mentions trying to decide which area to focus on, before choosing both.

The result is an unfocused book. The anecdotes (most of the book) are interesting enough but grow repetitive, and the critique of news (a subject in which the author is really very qualified to comment on) is more shrill and snarky than reasoned. A late chapter briefly suggests fixes for the broken state of news; that's more of what I'd have liked to read, but right when it got going, then it was over.

A quick, fun read, but not as substantive as it might have been.

This book is a rare, and wonderful, combination of hilariously funny and thought-provoking. Curtis' media analysis is dead-on (personal favorites: "Equal Time for Nutjobs" and "Proximity to NY/LA/Atlanta.") Anyone who pays even the slightest bit of attention to the news should read this book -- you will see things differently afterward. Among other things, you'll realize that a lot of the people quoted in articles on scientific studies as "opposing viewpoints" actually have no idea what the hell they're talking about. Plus you'll laugh out loud a lot.

Don't think you have to be familiar with the website to like the book -- I'd never been to fark.com before I discovered the book in the Nashville airport.

And I disagree with the PW review: The fark.com comments do add to the book, adding another layer of analysis and a lot of humor.

If you're looking for a fun read that opens your eyes to news you read every day, this one's for you.

I think it is highly foolish to think that a radio is announcing something when it just repeats the kind of crap that is produced in response to the news. People who have looked at scientific studies have been dismissed for failing to stop thinking when the data have factors which confound any simple conclusion. If you don't believe me, just try to find some article that included:

"Our study contradicts Monsanto conclusions because Monsanto systematically neglects significant health effects in mammals that are different in males and females eating GMOs, or not proportional to the dose. This is a very serious mistake, dramatic for public health. This is the major conclusion revealed by our work, the only careful reanalysis of Monsanto crude statistical data."

The fake news he cites all rings true. But, I think the subject should have been taken more seriously. The book reads like it was written for fourth-year frat house sophomores by a fourth-year frat house sophomore. The author could have still sent up the mass media, maybe even more effectively and with more humor, if he had written to a different audience. Also, I think he should have interviewed the mass media journalists who were responsible for the news items he criticizes. I suspect he would have had even more grist for the mill.

This book really shows how the media is full of crap and what really lies behind the news story.

I live in Lexington (where the author lives) and listen to him on the radio periodically (Z103), so I may be a little biased. While nothing in the book came as a suprise, it definitely makes you more aware of how much crap the media actually feeds us. Very easy to read, spends just enough time on a subject to be entertaining without losing your attention. Highly recommend.

I read the book a couple of weekends ago while at the cottage and laughed out loud several times. The author does a nice job of revealing patterns he has seen in the media and conveying them with humour and a down-to-earth perspective. He definitely stands on the side of the road and says, "That Emperor? He's naked." Thanks Drew for pointing out the obvious...which is so easily overlooked.