United States of Distraction: Media Manipulation in Post-Truth America (And What We Can Do About It)

by Mickey Huff, Nolan Higdon, Ralph Nader (Foreword)

A powerful critique of how manipulation of media gives rise to disinformation, intolerance, and divisiveness, and what can be done to change direction.

"Mickey Huff and Nolan Higdon emphasize what we can do today 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."--Ralph Nader

The role of news media in a free society is to investigate, inform, and provide a crucial check on political power. But does it?

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.

Praise for United States of Distraction

"A war of distraction is underway, media is the weapon, and our minds are the battlefield. Higdon and Huff have written a brilliant book of how we've gotten to this point, and how to educate ourselves to fight back and win."--Henry A. Giroux, author of American Nightmare: Facing the Challenge of Fascism

"A timely and urgent demand re-asserting the central importance of civic pursuits--not commercialism--in U.S. media and society."--Ralph Nader

"Higdon and Huff have produced the best short introduction to the nature of Trump-era journalism and how the 'Post-Truth' media world is inimical to a democratic society that I have seen. The book is provocative and an entertaining read. Best of all, the analysis in United States of Distraction leads to concrete and do-able recommendations for how we can rectify this deplorable situation."--Robert W. McChesney, author of Rich Media, Poor Democracy: Communication Politics in Dubious Times

"The U.S. wouldn't be able to hide its empire in plain sight were it not for the subservient 'free' press. United States of Distraction shows, in chilling detail, America's major media dysfunction--how the gutting of the fourth estate paved the road for fascism and what tools are critical to salvage our democracy."--Abby Martin, The Empire Files

"Nolan Higdon and Mickey Huff provides us with a fearless and dangerous text that refuses the post-truth proliferation of fake news, disinformation, and media that serve the interests of the few. This is a vital wake-up call for how the public can protect itself against manipulation and authoritarianism through education and public interest media."--George Yancy, author of Backlash: What Happens When We Talk Honestly about Racism in America and Professor of Philosophy at Emory University

"United States of Distraction challenges our hegemon-media's ideological mind control and the occupation of human thought. ... Huff and Higdon correctly call for mass critical resistance through truth telling by free minds. Power to the people!"--Peter Phillips, author of Giants: The Global Power Elite

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, History, American, Journalism

248 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2019

Reviews

[Dominic Carrillo · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've been paying attention, there's nothing new here. Though the explanation of the corporate takeover of the media was interesting, it was very brief. The bulk of the book covers well-known highlights/lowlights of Trump's propaganda spewing and the divided media's mishandling and promotion of it. While the author's call for a more vigilant free press (civic journalism) and vastly improved public education is clear and necessary, the final chapter had an occasionally sophomoric tone. For instance, to announce to educators that they need to teach critical thinking skills to their students would draw laughs from most faculties. Why? It's been the centerpiece of US educational standards for the last 20 years. Of course teachers have been teaching critical thinking! But what is one hour in a classroom vs. twelve hours of social media feeds flooding a kid's senses? While this book offers needed basic awareness and serves a noble purpose, it pales in comparison to works by Neil Postman, Tim Snyder and some of the other references in the text.

[Thomas Slipsager · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay. It kind of contradicts its own messaging with how unfairly it characterizes conservatives or neo-cons or alt-right folk. I’m liberal and I’m saying that. It also claims that a lot of what they espouse is conspiracy theory and they’re basically just idiots who munch up whatever fox or breitbart shoves their way, and then gives an incredibly weak counter criticism to liberal media outlets to seemingly balance the scales. The last chapter was redeeming in its call to action, but they awkwardly heralded Edward Bernays for some reason when this guy was the American equivalent of Joseph Goebbels, who they clearly and justly lobbed criticism at.
Too much time was spent belaboring the points about minutes spent on Trump. I get that’s a major point of the book, but it’s a pretty remedial concept to grasp, we don’t need a refresher of everything Trump has ever uttered.
These guys DO have a clear left lean as well which they, pretty meekly, try to conceal, not to much effect. We get some minor criticism of people like Rachel Maddow, but overall the liberal media is lauded as far more trustworthy and devoted to journalism than the right wing media, which, to me, is a load of shit. They’re both piles of absolute dogshit run by corporate interests, but again, these guys spend pages on pages slamming FOX and Trumps praise and association with them is basically a smoking gun showing their corruption, while whoever Trump labels ‘fake news’ is somehow exonerated and proved as legitimate to these two because of it.

Not a bad read. Not a very good read either. It gets very tedious in the way it reports data, but it wraps up nicely.

[Regina · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting read about how corporate-run media has harmed journalism and impacted the public trust in news. I do wish there had been a greater, more in-depth focus on how media shifted over the course of the 90s and 00s. I wasn’t familiar with the 1996 Telecommunications Act and I certainly had no idea how that shaped our current media hellscape, and would’ve loved even more information. Also, while I agree with the massive changes Higdon and Huff want to see in both education/media literacy and journalism, those are sea changes and they will take a lot of time to advocate for and implement. Since our democracy is deteriorating at such a rapid clip, I’m just not sure we have that time. I was hoping for a bit more in terms of what steps individuals can take, beyond just supporting a free press dedicated solely to the public interest.

[Hannah Rauh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Personally I went through some ups and downs reading this book. The authors started off strong and I enjoyed the first two or three chapters— especially the history of regulation and legislation having to do with media and how changes occurred over time. Although I agree with the authors discussion of critical thinking implementation in schools as well as further development of income and cultural equity in education, I struggled to follow their train of thought.

As a liberal, I thought this book was incredibly partisan and I felt like the entire middle portion of it was spent bashing Trump. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for it, but that’s not why I selected this book. I was hoping for a deeper dive into a piece that would unpack how the media is involved with opinions of the public and I didn’t feel I started getting that until the final few chapters.

By no means was this book all bad though, it raised some thought provoking points regarding post-truth, confirmation bias, corporate capitalism, as well as a look into the gears that make democracy turn.

This was my first real look into the world of independent media versus capitalistic media, and I believe the authors made their point clear regarding independent journalism. Something I fear that they neglected to discuss was the implications of social media in terms of the first amendment and education. I also will be looking deeper into the points they made regarding confirmation bias and the creation of fragmented groups within social media.

I’d be curious to pick the authors’ brains about the outcome about November’s election, and determine what suggestions they have to combat the expected governmental media control by Elon Musk, etc. They didn’t touch on when the government OWNS the media.

Overall I would recommend this book to a friend. But, I’d say they might be burnt out after trying to follow the authors’ thought process combined with the clear partisan language that in my opinion, takes away some of the rapport of the piece. I found some misspellings too which kind of irked me. Either way this was a thought provoking book that provided some interesting resources as well as a few new angles on an only worsening problem.

[Natalie Nolt · Rating 3 out of 5]

The following extract best summarizes the main argument of the authors:

“The authenticity of our social order as a democracy depends on the degree of authentic representation provided by our political, media, and educational systems. As discussed earlier, over the years these interconnected systems have become increasingly commandeered by the influence of private, rather than public interests. Instead of serving the common good, politicians and media increasingly distract the population from its own collective interests in order to serve theirs. As a result of immersion in systems that represent and reflect wealth and power, people have become so deeply indoctrinated that notions of reclaiming the sovereignty of citizenship from the spectator ship of consumerism become increasingly difficult.”

Although the main argument feels overstated, it’s still a worthwhile read for any aspiring journalist.

[Tyler Obenauf · Rating 3 out of 5]

TBR Read Harder Challenge selection for a book about media literacy.

Overall, the message is important in critically analyzing the source of your news and ways to improve civic education, but I feel the authors were somewhat heavy-handed in their writing, as well as very clear in their animus towards Trump.

Anyone who identifies as right of center will not engage with this text and they are the ones most in need of the book.

Some of the suggestions may also border on pie-in-the-sky and some lack any underpinnings for how to introduce them into existence.

Overall, 3.5 out of 5 stars.

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction to the vast media manipulation happening in the United States on the behalf of multibillion dollar corporations. I wish it dug a little deeper into the solutions the authors provided but otherwise it was an easy and engaging read.

[Joel Eis · Rating 5 out of 5]

United States of Distraction, Media Manipulation in Post-Truth America, Nolan Higdon and Mickey Huff, 1919 (Forward by Ralph Nader, San Francisco: City Light Books,

Ask any vet back from a war. Ask any black person on the street. Ask any immigrant parent who has come here fleeing from an oppressive regime in their home country and now has to work two jobs to feed their kids. History is personal.
United States of Distraction is perhaps the most tightly written, well researched, and clearly analyzed book on "where we are" and how to get out.
This manageably sized study does not harangue or degenerate into arcane convoluted conspiracy theories. It takes us to the scene of the crime—our own history—and shows the evidence that leads to the perpetrators. After reading even the first two chapters of United States of Distraction, there is no way to escape the fact that the Corporate Power Elite in this country eats, sleeps, lives, and breathes a program to keep us shackled to the wheel of poverty and ignorance, all in the name of “freedom,” their freedom. These namable people and institutions are working to convince us that these chains are charm bracelets, a cheap prize for staying passive and ignorant.
Higdon and Huff make it unmistakably clear that this is war.
United States of Distraction makes it patently clear that we are all on the front lines in this struggle, bombarded by dis-information constructed and aimed at us every day, all day.
The book is extremely well researched yet it is an engaging energizing narrative. United States of Distraction is particularly empowering for teachers. Young people worry about how to deal with the mess accumulated for them. The resources listed at the end of the book can help educators lead their students to find the will and the tools to fix their own future. This book is about joining with them to do so.
The frisson between style and content energizes far more than mere abstract comprehension. It stimulates engagement. I had to stop and write down specific ideas to activate the process of engaging students in internalizing the awareness that history is not something dry and abstract. They ARE History
What makes the book so important is that it offers specific suggestions and shares resources for us to arm ourselves in this conflict. For every teacher waking up to the disparaging news of the erosion of participation in democracy, the authors give us tools to build the barricades and to mount a counter offensive.
United States of Distraction is at the top of my gift list to get for all my teacher friends and I’m not waiting for Christmas. New copies, old copies, we need this now. If we do not act to save ourselves then who will join us? United States of Distraction makes it crystal clear we’re either part of the solution or part of the problem.

Joel D. Eis
Former organizer, National Draft Resistance, Vietnam War
Strike organizer, S.F. State Strike of ‘68
Soledad Brother’s Defense Committee
Author, four books on theatre and politics in history
Professor of Play Writing and Design,

[Jaime Medina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very insightful! A nonpartisan look into how mega corporations utilizes media to distract our attention from the important issues. Our focus is drawn away from policy and directed towards scandal. Scandal gains ratings, ratings generate advertisement revenue and the knowledge of the public slides further into oblivion. Social media, like Facebook, presents views that agree with our perspectives instead of presenting anything to challenge it. Challenging our perspective and looking at all the facts; separating them from bias, to form an opinion is how we can educate ourselves. Two major institutions required for a free, self-governing society to thrive are free press and public education. Successfully transforming schools will require a critical media-literacy education. It is up to us to seek the truth through the fog created by mega corporations.

[Elizabeth Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book purports to be about media manipulation, and how it contributes to the shallow levels of political and social interaction that plague our modern culture. Instead, it's mainly an exhausting rehash of Donald Trump's history of the last five years and how he manipulates the media. Some lip service is paid to how willingly the media are manipulated, but the one-sided focus, and the unquestioning acceptance of Russiagate make this only of interest to those on the Democrat bandwagon who want to have the walls of their echo chamber reinforced. In other words, this isn't about how the media manipulates us, which would have been a much more useful topic. It's just another writer cashing in on the worn-out "Trump bad" theme publishers find lucrative.

[Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a quick and easy read that shows how corporations have hijacked our news media. We are amusing ourselves to death. Coverage of issues worthy of public concern has been replaced with junk food news that is trivial and sensational. Corporations own the media now and news has been privatized. Corporations' goal is to increase their profit at the expense of we the people. The authors give myriad examples of how this has been done. The book would have been better if the authors had given concrete steps that we could take to overturn corporate takeover during the last few decades.

[Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read, but the answer to "what we can do about it" boils down to "completely change US culture." Most of the content of the book is interesting but not especially surprising: for-profit media, which constitutes nearly all media, is as the name states, primarily interested in profits, not news. The way to counteract it to to create new, non-profit media sources and develop education to teach civics, both of which are heavy lifts.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and timely book. The arguments of the authors are backed up very well and the central thesis is spot on. Highly recommend this book.

[Ryan Hyatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Many thanks to professor and free-press advocate Mickey Huff for sending me a signed copy of “The United States of Distraction,” co-authored with his writing partner and professor Nolan Higdon on the timely topic, “Media Manipulation and Post-Truth America (And What We Can Do About it).”

Huff is director of Project Censored, a nonprofit organization that produces books on media literacy, among other things, which I have used to develop courses, curricula, and trainings to support schools. Huff is also an accomplished musician and a self described ‘shredder’ who has been playing for the past 25 years, in addition to being an all-around good guy.

Therefore, it was a pleasure—and eye opener—to read Huff and Higdon’s latest book, which focuses on the co-opted relationship between Trump and corporate media that helped to secure the President’s first and second term, along with the ongoing lies and assault against democracy that have been underway for a decade. Yet, despite this awkward marriage between Trump and the press, the authors remind us with a litany of examples pulled from the latest headlines why “mastery of disinformation, propaganda, and public manipulation has shown no signs of translating to effective governing.”

While I am aware of the distortions about “liberal biases” and “fake news” that have paved the way for Trump‘s war against journalism, the book provided new insights about this strange relationship between Trump and corporate media, starting with the 2016 election campaign in which he received $2 billion in free news coverage, and due to the sheer outrageousness of his scandals and statements, was able to garner more attention than Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sander combined, even when the substance of his policy and vision seemed to be lacking.

So despite the fact that Trump abuses the press as much as he abuses so many other groups across American society, it is abuse corporate media has been willing to take, because, as news anchor Dan Rather mentions in the book, “… in a way, the media is a political partner, a business partner of Donald Trump. (He) delivers the ratings.”

In their analysis, the authors highlight many factors contributing to the erosion of societal awareness in our ‘post-truth’ era—including the undue influences of big tech, algorithms, social media, celebrity culture, and “infotainment,” but of particular significance to our distracted obliviousness, they assert, are the thousands of lies Trump has been recorded as saying and disseminated across media, and yet those closest to him, including representatives from media itself, no longer seem able or willing to question or hold him accountable.

Needless to say, the social fabric does not seem to be holding together well in the good old USA, but the authors believe a return to more grounded journalism and informed public opinion is not only possible but necessary, and they provide suggestions how the country might move forward with a pro-democracy agenda through the expansion of public media networks and critical media literacy instruction in schools.

And while the current Administration is seeking to gut public media funding even as this review is written, it is clear that this new attack comes because of the threat public-supported journalism might still pose to the Administration’s authoritarian ambitions.

So, in many ways, while the battered, co-dependent relationship between the free press and Trump is ongoing, Huff and Higdon emphasize the need for society to focus on the long game.

Quoting social scientist Daniel Yenkelovich, they argue, “Americans must become as effective as citizens as they are as consumers.”

In the end, the task of making America think again will take more than an election cycle, but decades, to accomplish.

Time for “We The People” to dig in, they argue, while we can.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is the epitome of political bias and SJW tantrums. As a progressive, this book was tough to read and made me realized the radical left is truly brainwashed. I tried reading this with an open mind and heart, but the conspiracies and constant belittling of Donald Trump were overbearing. The authors claim to want to battle against "corporate interests and propaganda," and offers solutions, but these solutions only support their beliefs and their liberalist propaganda. This entire book was a contradiction within itself and I do not recommend it. If you are radical left, you will enjoy this book, but if you consider yourself a conservative, prepare to read the dehumanization of your political beliefs.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last chapter of this book was semi-satisfying as it offers tangible solutions to our news-media problem (which I agree is a major problem). It's important that (somehow), the government be incentivized to ensure that media literacy is a core component within the American educational system.

I did appreciate learning about the legal history affecting media (e.g. The Fairness Doctrine and Reagan's abolition of it) and the gross corporatization of news media (e.g. the razor thin line between a "citizen" and a "consumer"). However, the large majority of the book contained low-hanging talking points about Trump which is not particularly what I was looking for.

[Evan Rosen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I want to give it 3.5 stars but I can’t. Felt like an essay that was stretched into a book. Essential reading for any Trump supporter, and for others - a quick, somewhat interesting, somewhat repetitive analysis of a topic rarely actually talked about: the need for a change in our information infrastructure. Journalism needs to be treated like it’s more important. By our people and our government.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This provided a synthetic though very ideological account of the ways that media manipulation can be blamed for (or at least largely blamed for) our current post-truth moment. I appreciated the historical context more than I appreciated the recounting of more recent events, though I suppose historical hindsight on those events will make having such accounts more useful and necessary.

[Aja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible book. This should be required reading for all students and required unlearning for all adults who still carry with them a desire for truth in journalism and the power of an informed and engaged populous. Thank you for this book.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

News coming from the opposing point of view are fake news. Accept only information from your elected overlord

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very eye-opening.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book

[Michaela · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping.”

[Butt Coffee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Clickbait title for the book. I wasn't expecting this book to be a rehash of the nonsense and propaganda that flies out of Donald Trump's mouth. It's deeply ironic that the focus is so much on the horseshit that Trump says and that Fox News broadcasts. It barely touches on the other media corporations beyond lip service. I was expecting it to be about media manipulation, not Fox News and Donald Trump. There's nothing new or interesting here. If you want to reread Donald Trump the greatest hits of horseshit Trump spews out of his mouth, then you may enjoy this. It got old fast.