FLAT EARTH NEWS

British journalist bites the paycheck that feeds him.

Guardian investigative reporter Davies (Dark Heart: The Shocking Truth About Hidden Britain, 1997, etc.) became a professional news gatherer in 1974. As he grew in experience, he became increasingly aware of shoddy journalism, but it was the inaccurate and incomplete reporting of the 2003 Iraq invasion that finally prompted him to probe its underlying causes. Focusing on England and the United States, he begins with “The Bug That Ate the World,” an examination of such scare-mongering non-stories as the Y2K warnings that as the new century arrived worldwide computer crashes and other calamities would inevitably ensue. “The News Factory” exposes reporters, editors, publishers and investors; the name Rupert Murdoch surfaces frequently. “The whole story of modern media failure is complicated and subtle,” writes Davies. “It involves all kinds of manipulation, occasional conspiracy, lying, cheating, stupidity, cupidity, gullibility, a collapse of skill and a new wave of deliberate propaganda. But the story begins with journalists who tell you the Earth is flat, because genuinely they think it might be. The scale of it is terrifying.” In “The Hidden Persuaders,” the author turns to the manipulators of the media within governments, corporate suites and public-relations firms. Davies disrespects them profoundly, as well as the reporters who welcome their entry through the front door. “Inside Stories” takes aim at specifically British outlets, most prominently the Sunday Times, the Observer and the Daily Mail. Davies examines sins of omission as well as commission in his lengthy, relentless indictment of incompetent practitioners, venal publishers and lying government or corporate sources. He rarely says anything positive about journalists in any newsroom. Furthermore, he sees little hope for improvement.

Well-informed but a bit overwrought.