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The News: A User's Manual (2014)

by Alain de Botton(Favorite Author)

3.44 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0307379124 (ISBN13: 9780307379122)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Pantheon

review 1: Botton's prose is a joy to read and his insights provocative. It is the media that shapes our view of the world and Botton helps the reader to question how it does this. Here is a quote from early on,"Societies become modern, the philosopher Hegel suggested, when news replaces religion as our central source of guidance and our touchstone of authority. In the developed economies, the news now occupies a position of power at least equal to that formerly enjoyed by the faiths. Dispatches track the canonical hours with uncanny precision: matins have been transubstantiated into the breakfast bulletin, vespers into the evening report."And here is a quote, from further in, about Gustave Flaubert's disgust with the news, which had evolved during his lifetime from something publish... moreed only in reaction to big events to something published daily."But now the press had made it very possible for a person to be at once unimaginative, uncreative, mean-minded and extremely well-informed. The modern idiot could routinely know what only geniuses had known in the past, and yet he was still an idiot - a depressing combination of traits that previous ages had never had to worry about. The news had, for Flaubert, armed stupidity and given authority to fools."If writing and insights like that don't intrigue you, by all means read something else. But if you'd like to take some time to consider this phenomenon that so defines our modern worldview and sensibility, Botton's book is worth considering.
review 2: This was a very interesting take on how readers consume the news, how the news is presented and how it should be presented, to say the least. It's very critical, analytical and philosophical. de Botton brings up interesting points for you to take away but I have to respectfully disagree with some of the things he said.A little background on me: I am a journalism student, about a third of the way through my degree. I'm not an expert on the news, but I'm not completely clueless as de Botton seems to assume in this book. I kind of feel like Alain de Botton has never studied journalism before and he has gone on to write this book about the news but purely from his own perspective and his opinions about how the news should be. Sometimes I feel like he states the obvious, other times I feel like he is too philosophical that it is too far removed from the actual news.The book is separated into six major categories of the news: politics, world news, economics, celebrity, disaster, and consumption. He breaks them down one by one with photographs, new headlines, news extracts from a large variety of newspapers. His writing is wonderfully colourful and descriptive but at times really superfluous and I had a love/hate thing with that. He loves citing art and culture and is just very fluffy in its overall presentation.Some issues I have with what he wrote:1. 'The news does not see the property developer who condemns thousands of people to live in humiliating environments but who nevertheless breaks no laws and steals no money.' That is not true. I myself, write an article about a developer's plans which the whole community was unhappy about. The news realises that certain people are being condemned and the news becomes a voice for the people in those situations. The news cannot write that they are breaking laws or stealing money because that would be defamation.2. 'The standard response for news organisations is to blame the public for its shallowness for caring more... about a pop song than about a clan shooting... What if the real reason viewers and readers don't much care about what is happening in foreign lands... because the news isn't being presented to us in a compelling enough way?' Honestly... People are just more inclined to read about things they are interested in than seek out what is happening around the world. A person who is an avid reader of the news would still want to find out about the royal baby and I think it's simple enough to understand that.3. 'Journalists and their editors tend to believe the importance of any event is determined by how anomalous and unusual it is... A bombing that kills thirty people is thought more newsworthy than a quiet day in a fishing village...' That's because a quiet day in a fishing village is not news at all.4. 'We don't know whether anyone has ever had a normal day in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for no such thing has ever been recorded by a western news organisation.' You don't need to compare the tragic event to a 'normal' day in that country. All you need to do is compare it with a normal day in your own country to understand how tragic it is because what if that country's 'normal' day is getting bombed every day?5. 'If we are going to feel any real concern for Ugandan news we will first need to know something about the mango trees...' Basically, he is saying that in order to care about Ugandan news, you must first get yourself a ticket to Uganda and smell the mango trees like he did. I think this speaks for itself.6. 'Then, once famous, they realise that they have become the recipient of a most perplexing kind of attention: one where intense love followed by sudden hatred, where their most minor lapses are treated with violent intolerance...' Actually no, celebrities these days can do no wrong. Everyone loves Jennifer Lawrence, even after she was photographed smoking weed. And I'm pretty sure Justin Bieber can get away with murder and his fans will still love him as they always have.7. '... The benefits of good news clearly don't apply when it comes to hearing about others'. I guess it can go both ways; you could feel upset at someone's fortune but you might also feel as though humanity is being restored when you read about how a homeless man returned a lost engagement ring that he found in his cup of change. That's a very heart-warming good news and if you felt upset by it... Well I don't even know.There were more things that I was iffy about but these were just the ones I happened to pick out. I didn't hate the book but l just couldn't agree with everything he wrote. Nonetheless, I am glad to have read and finished it. less

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