Cecil Roner, a long-time journalist, tries to explain the sharp decline in journalism, but we already know this story. I would pick a different book to buy and read.

Unfortunately, I was unable to download this book before it was archived and so am leaving this as a review/explanation. I have already bought a copy and will leave a review on places like Amazon, Goodreads, Waterstones, etc, once I've completed it and formed my thoughts on it. Apologies for any inconvenience and thank you for the opportunity.

Nonfiction | Adult
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If you regularly read this blog, you’ll know my increasing interest in and dismay over the way journalism has been failing the public. This book by highly respected author and former The Fifth Estate producer Cecil Rosner discusses the complicated factors that are making it harder for readers, viewers, and journalists themselves to distinguish facts from fakery. Lies. Omissions. Obfuscation. I read excerpts to my spouse (we are both former journalists) and we both leapt on this most telling fact – for every journalist in Canada there are 13 public relations professionals trying to shape how a story is told. Using a clear and accessible writing style, Rosner unpacks this troubling statistic by examining how their work has influenced media coverage around the world, especially over the past 40 years. He begins with an introduction, then follows up with an examination of the growth of PR in corporations (the tobacco companies, Big Oil, pharmaceuticals), a situation made even worse by the collapse of employment within well respected news outlets. As an example, Rosner reports the Ottawa Citizen newsroom has slowly diminished from from 180 people to thirty-five. Chapter 3 examines the deceptive masquerade of spin doctors in supposedly independent “think tanks” while Chapter 4 reveals (we all know this) the deliberate shaping of public opinion by government through propaganda and even outright lies. All of this was brought home for me last week with revelations that German journalist Hubert Seipel, considered an academic expert on Russian geopolitics and the author of two books criticized as being rather sympathetic to Vladimir Putin, was paid by companies linked to sanctioned oligarch Alexei Mordashov. His publisher cut off ties, but the damage is done. Back to this book. Rosner then turns his focus to “Thin Blue Lies” – a full chapter on how the media have traditionally parroted police news releases with little question, in response to public demand, as a result of pressing workload demand, and to maintain a cosy relationship and keep the scoops coming, despite ever-growing evidence that the police are carefully crafting the information in their favour. We have also done this with the military (Chapter 6) – remember “embedded journalists” during the Gulf War? Chapter 7 examines “Spies and Their Lies”, while the next two chapters (“Science or Junk?” and “The Power of Polls”) were for me the most fascinating and current. I thought I was a critical thinker and have been duly humbled. He wraps it up with a chapter on “The Age of Influencers”, and then offers the persistent reader a much needed “Fighting Back” – encouragement to hold journalism accountable, support investigative and non-traditional media, and do our own homework before blindly sharing content without questioning who wrote it and why, noting when it was first published and by whom, and being critical readers (or viewers or listeners) who make sure we aren’t being manipulated. A brilliant book, well researched and footnoted, that is important for Canadians and equally relevant for global news consumers. Read it. My thanks to Dundurn Press for the digital reading copy provided through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
More discussion and reviews of this title: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/64686073

This Review Is *NOT* A Paid Ad. Up front, because one of the large points Rosner makes is about just how much "influencer" peddling actually happens, let me be 100% perfectly clear: I had never heard of Rosner nor his publisher before picking up this book from NetGalley (yes, it is an advance reader copy). The title and description sounded like something that was interesting to me, so I picked it up. Period.

But that actually *does* get to the very points Rosner makes throughout this text, and he repeatedly uses real world examples both well known and very obscure to show his points. Basically, *everyone* is suspect - and you *should* do your own research. Yes, there are experts. Yes, objective truth exists. But are you actually hearing from them? Are you actually getting anything remotely close to the objective truth on the topic at hand? Rosner spends about 86% of his nearly 300 pages showing that... eh, you may not be, on either question. No matter where your "news" is coming from. At any level.

Truly a phenomenal expose on the topic, very well written and extremely informative. While Rosner is based in Canada and thus several of his examples are also based there, he also covers the situation in the US in particular quite well - and because of this, his points likely hold reasonably well at least through Western nations and *possibly* in every location on the globe (and beyond).

The star deduction is really two half stars - one half because at 14%, his bibliography is just shy of the range I normally expect to see in a book such as this based on my extensive experience reading these types of nonfiction ARCs, that range being closer to 20-30%. The other half star is due to the elitism that is so pervasive throughout the text. While actually decently balanced - while he spends an entire chapter *mostly* railing against Libertarian think tanks in Canada, he *does* also point out others of other political persuasions that are just as bad, and spends at least some actual time covering them and their faults as well, for example - even in the balance, the overall elitist disdain for so many of us just pours through his writing. And to be clear, I myself am a former political blogger - well before my book blogging days - that actually broke several local and even Statewide news items. And had more journalistic integrity than at least some of the "professionals" on those beats. (But those are ultimately stories for another time and place. ;) ) My point here being that at least this reader is not simply some fly by night *very* minor "book influencer" (as some authors have called me *with pride* - rather than disdain), and Rosner realistically should have expected that many, perhaps even most, eventual readers of this book would have some level of journalistic experience. Which makes the elitism that much harder to swallow.

Still, ultimately this truly was a very good, well written expose on just how much media manipulation is in our every day lives, from the local to the national and throughout even social media as well.

Very much recommended.

"Everybody lies" - dr. House

Dr. House may have been a fictional character but it doesn´t mean he´s wrong. In fact, he is so painfully right. This book is a proof of that.
Who lies? Everybody! thats who. We all know that corporations are evil, but we all want to work for them because this is where the money is, right? Think tanks, glorified by many, are so popular in schools, but they aren´t always transparent, they are funded by someone and do exist to serve a purpose. Politicians are usually regarded as people whose job is to lie. But the military is there to protect, not to lie, right? Nope. The lie too. How about spies? Their job is to pretend, to lie, and to gather information that can be useful to others, that´s nothing new.
Cecil Rosner has been working in media long enough to know exactly what he´s talking about. He has packed his book with horrific examples of how facts are being manipulated, twisted, and turned upside down in order to achieve a goal that´s not always clear. Misinformation, disinformation, lies - that´s our everyday life. Who can we, the public trust? Should we? How can we spot all the mischief in the media?
"Every major government department and every private and public institution now tightly controls its information flow. Communications specialists and spokespeople have proliferated. The global public relations industry today is worth more than US$100 billion.
Alongside this growth is the decline in the number of people practicing journalism."
"There are fewer than 12.000 reporters in Canada compared to nearly 160.000 employees in the advertising, public relations, and communications industry. For every journalist trying to figure out the truth, thirteen people are influencing that journalist´s perception of reality. This isn´t a fair fight."

What is worth pointing out is that apart from all the obvious places where we can expect lies and manipulation, the author turns his attention to less obvious places, such as science/junk, polls, and influencers. These are incredibly important points and are way too often taken for granted. Science only appears to be scientific, but in many cases, the research that you read about in your daily paper has been paid for by someone who has an interest in doing so. The methodology is often flawed and should be questioned.
The especially interesting chapter is the one about influencers. Their connections aren´t clear, their content is often misleading and questionable. We all have heard about fake reviews. Trip Advisor is especially infamous in that regard. But this goes further. Influencers can spread propaganda in a cheap and effective way. For example recent World Cup tournament was promoted using paid influencers to bring people into the country. Of course, these influencers failed to disclose that they were paid for their work. Result: "1.4 million video views and a total reach of ten million." Where is the question about ethics?

With the rapid development of AI, we have no way to say which account is real, which is fake, which content is real, and which is not. Which content is fabricated to deceive or cause damage? (a recent example is what Hamas has been publishing, many of its claims regarding abuse from Israelis turned out to be false and the EU demanded strict and prompt action from Meta and TikTok to remove the fake information from their platforms --- not in the book).

How can we fight back? Can we at all?
Yes, we can. First "anyone who exercises skepticism and critical thinking can learn to spot misleading information in news reports". Ask: "Who created the content, and when did they create it? Is any evidence offered for the claims in the story?" If you see numbers, polls, science, etc more questions should be asked. Stop relying on press releases. Challenge conventional narrative. This seems to be becoming tougher and tougher every day. People don´t like it when someone asks questions. Authorities absolutely hate that. We train our kids to accept what they're told without questioning it. Why are we so surprised then when we get so easily fooled?

An interesting read and..... not always believe what you hear and read in media. A story how the messages are pass to us and what the value they carry.

This book is about investigative journalism and how to apply it practically when getting information from any media source. The principles are genuinely very simple: check the information source and it's credibility. It is just that we do not do this normally. There are plenty of interesting and up to date examples of innovation investigation and sources check.

I loved this book. Rosner tells a fascinating story in a conversational tone and without any jargon. Rosner makes his points clearly and with a lot of examples, several from his own work, making the book somewhat biographical. I loved that this book has a Canadian take and it gave me a new look at Canadian history, things I may have missed when the topics discussed were current events. However, I think that the book contains broader lessons that are applicable everywhere. Thank you to Netgalley and Dundurn Press for the digital review copy.

This was a wonderful book. I've been in the public relations business for forty years, and I never knew a lot of this information.