Slick Spins and Fractured Facts [Hardcover]

Caryl Rivers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 1996 | ISBN-10: 023110152X | ISBN-13: 978-0231101523 0

Studies the ways the media put their own spin on the news of our sound-bite generation. This book shows how the media follow their biased agenda, unaware of the deep wells of history, prejudice, and primal fear that inform their version of reality, making the reader think twice about "the news".

Editorial Reviews

From Kirkus Reviews

A spirited reading of the daily papers, with an eye to uncovering the cultural and political forces that shape the news. Most Americans, writes Boston University journalism professor Rivers, do not follow current events. This is less out of ignorance than because the makers of news and of newspapers do not represent their interests: ``Working-class voices--not to mention those of poor people--are rarely heard on op-ed pages. The exotic minutiae of foreign policy, the endless inside-the-beltway battles, are the stuff that interests elite journalists.'' What also interests elite journalists, she argues, are sensational stories that play to cultural myths that are not borne out in reality; in this vein, she examines matters like the so-called bell curve, which excited so much attention a couple of years ago, and which she believes reflects racist attitudes among the power elite and the media that serve it; and much-trumpeted stories like the one that claimed women over the age of 35 have as much chance of being killed by terrorists as they do of getting married. (Not true, Rivers says: The claim is the result of bad math being ``hyped into a phony trend.'') Rivers's aim is wide, and sometimes scattershot; she notes that few people will soon forget Lorena Bobbitt, but that the ``thousands of women who are shot, beaten, maimed, and burned by their male partners each year'' will forever remain nameless. She doesn't acknowledge that the Bobbitt case was in fact newsworthy if only for its unusualness. Still, she undertakes thoughtful analyses of a number of cases to show how the media becomes an actor in making the news, and she is usually convincing, especially when she takes on notions of objectivity in news reporting--reporting that, she argues, is inherently biased in favor of the status quo. Students of the media will want to have a good look at this deconstruction of the headlines. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review

Slick Spins and Fractured Facts will save the sanity of media watchers enraged or bewildered by the distance between image ad reality. She not only documents the problem, but offers practical solutions for media workers and watchers alike. Rivers' book should be a companion to every newspaper and magazine. -- Gloria Steinem

Slick Spins and Fractured Facts will save the sanity of media watchers enraged or bewildered by the distance between image ad reality. She not only documents the problem, but offers practical solutions for media workers and watchers alike. Rivers' book should be a companion to every newspaper and magazine. -- Gloria Steinem

Caryl Rivers makes a convincing case that old stereotypes in the news about women have faded only to be replaced with new ones, usually old ones in modern dress. -- Ben H. Bagdikian Author of The Media Monopoly

The promise of the new communications technology challenges all of us who care about journalism in the public interest to think more deeply and more honestly about the work we do. Fortunately there are interesting voices like Caryl Rivers with original and challenging ideas for us to consider. Her new book has the kind of insights and questions we should all be addressing. -- Bill Kovach Curator, Nieman Foundation, Harvard University

This is the book I wish I'd read as a beginning journalist. Caryl Rivers decodes media myths and demolishes stereotypes so that we can report on reality. Plus she's fun to read! -- Kay Mills Author of

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 250 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (May 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 023110152X
• ISBN-13: 978-0231101523
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,694,237 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A major letdown, May 18, 2005

By 

Anon E. Moose (NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slick Spins and Fractured Facts (Hardcover)

As a journalist and a student of journalism, I like approaching media critiques from all angles. I'm just as likely to read Bernard Goldberg's Bias as I am Eric Alterman's book-length rebuttal of it. Regardless of the authors' stances, I've found them to be capable of making convincing arguments. Not so with Rivers.
At its core, Slick Spins and Fractured Facts is a contradictory tome. Rivers derides media professionals as out-of touch elites and bemoans the loss of working class journalists. Yet she relies extensively on the opinions of out-of-touch academics to form the basis of her arguments. The irony must have escaped her.
Similarly, she criticzes media types for attempting to create nonexistant blocks of consensus. An article by Ellen Goodman, for example, is supposed to represent "the female perspective" even though different females have different perspectives. Rivers is right to condemn this, but she then perpetrates the very same kind of intellectual fraud in attacking Christina Hoff Summers. If there is no such thing as a monolithic feminist perspective, why is it therefore so unreasonable for her to consider Hoff Summers a feminist?
Lastly, Rivers fails to remember that the journalists are only obligated to cover what is in the public interest (and therefore has broad relevence and applicability), not what is of importance only to a handful of special interest groups.
A cogent feminist critique of the news would be of interest to feminists and journalists alike, but a lack of logic and clarity kills this book. Rivers accompanies overly obvious "insights" with ranting and a lot of conjecture. When it comes to reporting on reporters, Howard Kurtz and Eric Alterman write circles around this author. Avoid and save your time.