Farhad Manjoo True Enough Analysis
This is definitely a new era. Whoever would have thought you would hear people diss “fact-based journalism” — or that we’d even see that phrase? But the dissing, and existence of that phrase do exist: 21st century America is moving into a new age where many people will often only go to websites with which they totally agree, listen or watch left and right wing talk shows that already share their views, read news stories they agree with, and tout factoids that fit their biases and ignore those that don’t. Farhad Manjoo’s True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society is required reading for those who’ve pondered, bemoaned, celebrated or nurtured this new trend. Not everyone will agree with his take on specifics, but he brings this issue
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But it isn’t just that: he underscores how these perceptions involve very different perceptions of reality. How do these ideas grow, and snowball, and gain strength? He makes the case that it’s due to this splintering of the media and the new tools that can enable truths that in the end aren’t. Truth is re-arranged, manipulated, and cheery picked so it goes out to the faithful (on each side) who accept it and aggressively promote it as part of their reality. Selective exposure, fragmented media, cognitive biases and other factors all shape this new perceived reality. Manjoo supports his argument with concrete examples and detailed research, all written in highly readable I-can’t-put-this-down style. One chapter deals with advertising and propaganda masked as fact. The basic question becomes: are facts and is fact based journalism out of style? AND: Are they considered virtues or pesky things that get in the way of a world view?As newspapers wither and downsize, as once-dominant news magazines redesign and trim reporting and investigative reporting for analysis and opinion, as blogs (such as this) essentially offer op-ed analyses with occasional original reporting, what happens to the idea that there can be a “truth” in a story or a “fact” that is truth or fact and that nothing that talk show hosts of the left or right, political groups, or blogger say can change
But it isn’t just that: he underscores how these perceptions involve very different perceptions of reality. How do these ideas grow, and snowball, and gain strength? He makes the case that it’s due to this splintering of the media and the new tools that can enable truths that in the end aren’t. Truth is re-arranged, manipulated, and cheery picked so it goes out to the faithful (on each side) who accept it and aggressively promote it as part of their reality. Selective exposure, fragmented media, cognitive biases and other factors all shape this new perceived reality. Manjoo supports his argument with concrete examples and detailed research, all written in highly readable I-can’t-put-this-down style. One chapter deals with advertising and propaganda masked as fact. The basic question becomes: are facts and is fact based journalism out of style? AND: Are they considered virtues or pesky things that get in the way of a world view?As newspapers wither and downsize, as once-dominant news magazines redesign and trim reporting and investigative reporting for analysis and opinion, as blogs (such as this) essentially offer op-ed analyses with occasional original reporting, what happens to the idea that there can be a “truth” in a story or a “fact” that is truth or fact and that nothing that talk show hosts of the left or right, political groups, or blogger say can change