Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics

by Yochai Benkler, Robert Faris, Hal Roberts Narrated by Steve Menasche

Overview

Is social media destroying democracy? Are Russian propaganda or "fake news" entrepreneurs on Facebook undermining our sense of a shared reality? A conventional wisdom has emerged since the election of Donald Trump in 2016 that new technologies and their manipulation by foreign actors played a decisive role in his victory and are responsible for the sense of a "post-truth" moment in which disinformation and propaganda thrives.

Network Propaganda challenges that received wisdom through the most comprehensive study yet published on media coverage of American presidential politics from the start of the election cycle in April 2015 to the one-year anniversary of the Trump presidency. Analyzing millions of news stories together with Twitter and Facebook shares, broadcast television, and YouTube, the audiobook provides a comprehensive overview of the architecture of contemporary American political communications. Through data analysis and detailed qualitative case studies of coverage of immigration, Clinton scandals, and the Trump Russia investigation, the book finds that the right-wing media ecosystem operates fundamentally differently than the rest of the media environment.

The authors argue that longstanding institutional, political, and cultural patterns in American politics interacted with technological change since the 1970s to create a propaganda feedback loop in American conservative media. This dynamic has marginalized center-right media and politicians, radicalized the right wing ecosystem, and rendered it susceptible to propaganda efforts, foreign and domestic. For listeners outside the United States, the audiobook offers a new perspective and methods for diagnosing the sources of, and potential solutions for, the perceived global crisis of democratic politics.

Editorial Reviews

MARCH 2019 - AudioFile

Narrator Steve Menasche misses the mark in his narration of this audiobook as often as he hits it, thereby undermining the complexity of the authors’ argument. Through several studies they performed and in conjunction with ample research, the authors offer a nuanced breakdown of the intersection of politics, culture, and digital technology in the U.S. They highlight how the mix of the internet’s structure, partisan politics, conservative media, and opportunistic foreign-government operatives has and will continue to undermine democratic institutions worldwide. Menasche can be a bit too deliberate in enunciation, drawing out words much longer than is necessary. In some passages, his narration sounds natural and suggests comfort with the text, while at other times he infuses more drama into the material than is appropriate. L.E. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

From the Publisher

"Network Propaganda presents a great comprehensive overview of the architecture of the U.S. media ecosystem, using various methods such as data analysis, case studies, and textual analysis. With ample data and insightful analysis, this book is an important guide to seek ways to make democracy survive the current epistemic crisis." — Yeahin (Jane) Pyo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, International Journal of Communication

"[Network Propaganda] provides one of the most comprehensive studies of the US media ecosystem surrounding the 2016 election." — Felix Simon, journalist and researcher

"[Network Propaganda is] instantly a necessary text for those of us who study media ecologies." — Mike Goodwin, Senior Fellow at R Street Institute

"There are a lot of books on networks, social media, propaganda, polarization and American politics. This is the best." - Cass Sunstein, Bloomberg, Best Books of 2018

MARCH 2019 - AudioFile

Narrator Steve Menasche misses the mark in his narration of this audiobook as often as he hits it, thereby undermining the complexity of the authors’ argument. Through several studies they performed and in conjunction with ample research, the authors offer a nuanced breakdown of the intersection of politics, culture, and digital technology in the U.S. They highlight how the mix of the internet’s structure, partisan politics, conservative media, and opportunistic foreign-government operatives has and will continue to undermine democratic institutions worldwide. Menasche can be a bit too deliberate in enunciation, drawing out words much longer than is necessary. In some passages, his narration sounds natural and suggests comfort with the text, while at other times he infuses more drama into the material than is appropriate. L.E. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170665846
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	01/29/2019
Edition description:	Unabridged
Sales rank:	521,471

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