Ryan Holiday's Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator

Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator - Ryan Holiday

You've seen it all before. A malicious online rumor costs a company millions. A political sideshow derails the national news cycle and destroys a candidate. Some product or celebrity zooms from total obscurity to viral sensation. What you don't know is that someone is responsible for all this. Usually, someone like me.

I'm a media manipulator. In a world where blogs control and distort the news, my job is to control blogs--as much as any one person can. In today's culture...

1) Blogs like "Gawker," "Buzzfeed" and the "Huffington Post" drive the media agenda.

2) Bloggers are slaves to money, technology, and deadlines.

3) Manipulators wield these levers to shape everything you read, see and watch--online and off.

Why am I giving away these secrets? Because I'm tired of a world where blogs take indirect bribes, marketers help write the news, reckless journalists spread lies, and no one is accountable for any of it. I'm pulling back the curtain because I don't want anyone else to get blindsided.

I'm going to explain exactly how the media "really" works. What you choose to do with this information is up to you. [ synopsis from goodreads ]

 

 

So I read this book for my Mass Communications Senior Seminar class and I honestly enjoyed it so, so much. It's well written and bits of it are so hilarious. It's more like a note (or even a guideline??) from a friend than anything else.

This book doesn't cover exactly what I want to do professionally but I can definitely see why we were required to read it. Honestly, it was such an eye opener. I watch a lot more carefully where I go online now and who I trust as "news" sources. (Reasons why I generally stick with good old fashioned newspapers.)

I also really enjoyed the way it was written. I loved how it was broken into two parts and first taught you how media was manipulated and then basically explained why it was wrong to do this. It was really great hearing it from the horse's mouth, so to speak.

I really can't dote on this book enough. It's a very quick read and definitely one that gives you a lot to think about. I'm glad we were required to read such an interesting book! (And also that it is such a quick read since we were required to write a paper about it and I, uh, waited until a few days before the paper was due to even start this book. Oops. Got an A though. *fist pump*)

 

review originally posted on goodreads