Navigating the News: A Political Media User's Guide

This is the book for anyone who aspires to the title informed citizen. It clearly explains how political news works how the media influences readers―and how to sort through it all to be a better smarter consumer of political news.In a perfect world political news would be objective and fact-based. Instead it is biased and unreliable. This engaging book was written to help readers master the media. Combining insight and humor it exposes the bias irrationality bad arguments and misleading numbers that abound in political media. It shows readers how to take advantage of available news sources and it guides them in developing the skills needed to sort through the flood of hype and misinformation.Specifically the book examines types of political media and why it matters whether one gets political news from television radio newspapers or the Internet including social media. It discusses the latest developments in political behavior economics media studies and neuroscience to explain why the political media does what it does to systematically distort consumers view of politics―and it looks at ways consumers tend to be irrational in choosing and interpreting news. Finally it offers concrete suggestions that will enable readers to become more critical of what they read see and hear.Shows readers how to spot bad political arguments as well as why they should be skeptical of the hard data behind many of those argumentsShares clear accessible explanations of the ever-present biases that affect our view of political newsOffers a multitude of clear examples taken from current politics on ways in which media distorts political information and messagesProvides a compelling look at social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter as sources of political information how we perceive information from these venues and how they affect our understanding of American political dialogue