The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media

by Brooke Gladstone, Josh Neufeld

Overview

New York Times Bestseller
With a New Afterword

“A comic book with zest and brains—one that just might help a reader understand the brave new world.” —The New Yorker

A million listeners trust NPR’s Brooke Gladstone to guide them through the complexities of the modern media. Bursting onto the page in vivid comics by acclaimed artist Josh Neufeld, this brilliant radio personality guides us through two millennia of media history, debunking the notion that “The Media” is an external force beyond our control and equipping us to be savvy consumers and shapers of the news. An invaluable introduction to how the media works from one of the acknowledged masters of the industry, this tenth anniversary edition brings the story up to date, with new illustrations and an afterword that offers a deep examination of the rise of social media and the public’s responsibility in a time of division and disinformation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393541571
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	01/12/2021
Edition description:	Updated Edition
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Brooke Gladstone is the host of NPR’s On the Media and former senior editor of All Things Considered. She has won numerous awards for her work including two Peabody Awards and a National Press Club Award. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Josh Neufeld is the author of the New York Times bestseller A. D.: New Orleans After the Deluge and A Few Perfect Hours. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

In the Beginning 3

The American Exception 9

Existential Angst 22

Canis Journalisticus 35

Birds on a Wire 43

News You Can't Use 47

The Great Refusal 57

Bias 60

War 71

Objectivity 96

Disclosure 111

The Matrix in Me 117

The Influencing Machines 129

Um, Panic? 137

I, Robot 145

I, Media 150

Afterword 159

Acknowledgments 165

Sources 169

Index 179

What People are Saying About This

Stephen Colbert

A great book.

Editorial Reviews

"[A] masterpiece."

The Atlantic

"It’s easy to imagine The Influencing Machine becoming mandatory reading in journalism classes around the country."

Philadelphia Inquirer

"A great book."

Stephen Colbert

"One of the coolest and most charming book releases of this year… a refreshingly alternative approach to the age-old issue of why we disparage and distrust the news."

The Atlantic - Kirstin Butler

"A first-rate comics manifesto. The Influencing Machine has influenced me to think much more deeply about the media landscape live in. Gladstone and Neufeld can show and tell with the best of ‘em."

Scott McCloud

"Like Malcolm Gladwell or Michael Lewis or Michael Pollan, Brooke somehow takes a subject most of us don’t give a damn about and makes it completely entertaining."

Ira Glass

"Think Art Spiegelman meets Marshall McLuhan."

New York Observer - Leon Neyfakh

"Brooke Gladstone’s The Influencing Machine is so remarkable that it is hard to describe. The best I can do is: it’s a book about the history and current controversies of the media, all done as a Spiegelman-style comic-strip narrative. Brooke herself (or at least an avatar) leads you through it all, and her ‘voice’—well known after her years as host of NPR’s On the Media—comes through loud and clear, thanks to Josh Neufeld's witty drawings. I learned a lot, including a lot that I should have known already, and enjoyed every minute."

Michael Kinsley

"The Influencing Machine is an indispensable guidebook for anyone who hopes to navigate the mirages and constantly shifting sands of our media landscape. Brooke Gladstone’s text and Josh Neufeld’s images illuminate one another with crackling wit and intelligence."

Alison Bechdel

"This is a comic book with zest and brains—-and it just might help a reader understand the brave new world."

New Yorker

"A comic book with zest and brains—and it just might help a reader understand the brave new world."

The New Yorker

Though the graphic format employed here is often playful and always reader friendly, this analysis of contemporary journalism is as incisive as it is entertaining, while offering a lesson on good citizenship through savvy media consumption.

As co-host of NPR'sOn the Media,radio veteran Gladstone must have gotten a change-of-pace kick out of a project so dependent on visuals in general and her own caricature in particular. She finds an ideal collaborator in artist Neufeld, whoseA.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge(2009) could be categorized as graphic journalism.While the current technological revolution has many claiming that journalism has reached a state of crisis, if not obsolescence, the author takes a longer view, emphasizing not only that "we've been here before," but that"Everything we hate about media today was present at its creation." Instead of wringing her hands over manipulation and distortion, as well as the pesky impossibility of objectivity, Gladstone focuses more of her attention on biases that are institutional rather than ideological.Among them: commercial bias toward "conflict and momentum" (the narrative momentum that attracts readership), the access bias that results in self-censorship, the fairness bias that makes it seem like two sides have equal weight (when there could be many sides). The author also shows how every president eventually considers the press an adversary, and why war reporting tends to be particularly problematic ("Every media bias shows up in war reporting, in spades." Ultimately, she urges a democracy that relies on media to share responsibility "by playing an active role in our media consumption."

While some may see a sign of bias in the author's own media affiliation, this historical analysis of how and why media and society shape each other should prove illuminating for general readers and media practitioners alike.

Kirkus Reviews