United States of Distraction: Media Manipulation in Post-Truth America (And What We Can Do About It)
By Project Censored’s own Mickey Huff and Nolan Higdon with a foreword by Ralph Nader and published as part of the Open Media Series at City Lights Books, United States of Distraction (238pp.) is a powerful critique of how manipulation of media gives rise to disinformation, intolerance, and divisiveness, and how we can fight back. The role of news media in a free society is to investigate, inform, and provide a crucial check on political power. But does it do any of these things? It’s no secret that the goal of corporate-owned media is to increase the profits of the few, not to empower the many. As a result, people are increasingly immersed in an information system structured to reinforce their social biases and market to their buying preferences. Journalism’s essential role has been drastically compromised, and Donald Trump’s repeated claims of “fake news” and framing of the media as “an enemy of the people” have made a bad scenario worse.
Written in the spirit of resistance and hope, United States of Distraction offers a clear, concise appraisal of our current situation, and presents readers with action items for how to improve it. “Mickey Huff and Nolan Higdon emphasize what we can do today,” says Ralph Nader in the foreword, “to restore the power of facts, truth, and fair, inclusive journalism as tools for people to keep political and corporate power subordinate to the engaged citizenry and the common good.”
