You might be stupid to judge a book by its cover, but sometimes judging a book by its endorsements might be effective:
Not since Orwell and Chomsky has perceived reality been so skilfully revealed in the cause of truth. –John Pilger
Regular critical analysis of the media, filling crucial gaps and correcting the distortions of ideological prisms, has never been more important. Media Lens has performed a major public service by carrying out this task with energy, insight, and care. –Noam Chomsky
The book in question is Newspeak in the 21st Century by David Edwards and David Cromwell of Medialens fame. The actions of Medialens have been covered on this blog before, for example our media is far worse than North Korean state media.
Max Dunbar has written a review of the Edwards and Cormwell’s book; he does his best to be balanced. Here is his final assessment. It’s a bleak assessment for Medialens contributors.
Having read through 287 pages of pious waffle, clumsy Orwell comparisons, sweeping moral equivalence and clanging exclamation marks, I can appreciate that I’ve been harsh on the Medialens founders. Yet I pity its subscribers. These are obviously good people who care about the state of the world and want to make a difference. They could be working for the UN or Doctors Without Borders and instead they are wasting their time firing off spam email to people who are just trying to get on with their jobs. I hope some of them took Gavin Esler’s advice: ‘Please don’t write to me again in someone else’s words. It is so embarrassing for you. Please learn to think for yourself.’
UPDATE: Medialens are unimpressed.
