UNITED STATES OF DISTRACTION

The future of democracy depends on engaged, media-literate citizens.

Media critics Higdon (History and Media Studies/California State Univ., East Bay, and Univ. of San Francisco), a co-founding member of the Global Critical Media Literacy Project, and Huff (Social Science and History/Diablo Valley Coll.; co-editor: Censored 2019: The Top Censored Stories and Media Analysis of 2017-2018, 2019, etc.), executive producer and co-host of the weekly radio show Project Censored, paint a dismal picture of contemporary journalism, arguing persuasively that the media has been co-opted by commercial interests and no longer serve to inform the public about issues crucial to democracy. “The business-dominant economy” that has emerged since the Reagan years, the authors assert, has created “a veritable one-party system—the pro-corporate party—with two factions, the Republicans and the Democrats, funded to uphold corporate interests above all others.” Because commercial media exist “to attract, harvest, and sell people’s consciousness to advertisers,” they have seen Donald Trump as a sure way to boost ratings. The authors devote more than half of the book to reprising Trump’s familiar, much-publicized lies and excoriating the media for giving him out-of-proportion coverage. Rather than conducting responsible investigation, disseminating information, and analyzing political issues, the media inflame polarization, “fostering a militant ‘us versus them’ mentality in regard to competing candidates, issues, and ideas.” A critically savvy public would be able to see through these strategies, but, the authors insist, “information literacy and media education are practically non-existent,” leaving Americans vulnerable to “the torrent of images and messages vying for their attention.” Education reform and a revitalized press are needed for a “free, self-governing society to thrive.” To that end, the authors call for “critical media literacy education” that emphasizes civics, critical thinking skills, critical awareness of media, community engagement, and cultural competency (including the cultivation of empathy) as well as a broadening and deepening of news reporting. Advocating new teacher-training programs and extensive curriculum changes, the authors offer few details about how these reforms can be developed and instituted.

An impassioned argument heavier on critique than solutions.