Library:Flat Earth News
| Flat Earth News | |
|---|---|
| Author | Nick Davies |
| First published | 2008 |
| ISBN | 978-0-7011-8145-1 unverified |
| Role | Analysis |
| Domains | Technology & Media Politics & Elections |
| Tactics | Propaganda Technique Fabrication |
Flat Earth News is a 2008 book by Nick Davies.
Summary
Nick Davies, an investigative reporter for The Guardian, wrote this critique of the British news industry after decades inside it. Its title refers to stories that become accepted truth because every outlet repeats them, even though they are false, such as fears that the millennium bug would cause global chaos.
Churnalism
Davies commissioned researchers at Cardiff University to study the content of major British newspapers. They found that a large share of stories were wholly or partly based on wire copy and public relations material, with little independent checking. Davies called the practice "churnalism": reporters under time pressure processing press releases rather than reporting.
Pressures on the newsroom
The book describes how cost cutting, fewer reporters and demands for more output made journalists dependent on official sources and PR, and how commercial and political pressures shaped coverage. It also examines the use of illegal methods to obtain information, a theme Davies later pursued in his reporting on phone hacking at the News of the World.
Relevance to Bullshitopedia
The book explains how falsehoods can spread through respectable news outlets without any single person intending to deceive, simply because no one checks. It is a useful guide to the industrial causes of media misinformation.
Related entries
- The Y2K bug would bring civilization to a halt
- Jayson Blair's New York Times stories were accurate
- Library:Trust Me, I'm Lying