It's Not News, It's Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap As News | 
 enlarge | Author: Drew Curtis
Publisher: Gotham
Category: Book
List Price: $20.00
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Rating:  33 reviews
Sales Rank: 216538
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Edition: DIAF
Pages: 288
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1
Dewey Decimal Number: 302.230973
ASIN: B000Z4K3TE
Publication Date: May 31, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Condition: In excellent condition. In stock. Ships out right away.
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Product Description
From the creator of Fark.com, an expose on the media gone awry, revealing the hysterical, often outrageous non-news that passes for newsworthy today
Have you ever found yourself noticing certain patterns in the news you see and read each day? Perhaps it s the blatant fear-mongering in the absence of facts on your local 6 o clock news ("Tsunami could hit the Atlantic any day!" EVERYBODY PANIC), or the seasonal articles that appear year after year like clockwork ("Roads will be crowded this holiday season." Thanks AAA.). IT S NOT NEWS, IT S FARK is Drew Curtis clever examination of the state of the media today and a hilarious look at the go-to stories mass media uses when there's just not enough hard news to fill a newspaper or a news broadcast. Who is to blame for non-news in the media? Is it the media, or the media consumer and their website-clicking habits? Or does the answer lie somewhere in between? IT'S NOT NEWS, IT'S FARK takes a crack at why
Drew exposes eight stranger-than-fiction media patterns that prove just how little reporting is going on in the world of reporters today. Regardless of whether it s a slow news day, mainstream media still has to deliver. IT S NOT NEWS, IT S FARK examines all the "news" that was never fit for print in the first place, and promises to have you laughing (with the media, mind you, not at them...) along the way. Let the hilarity ensue.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 28 more reviews...
 Not for anyone over the age or I.Q. of 13 December 26, 2008
Kyle Maxwell
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The problem with this book is that it wouldn't exist were it not for the "media excess" that it claims to decry. It's as though People Magazine ran a cover article on the stupidity of Celebrity Worship. Beyond the hypocrisy, you're left with the simple fact that Mr. Curtis simply cannot write. He has all the literary skills of a hamstrung squid. The Fark website itself is pretty much just a meeting ground for half-wits and social rejects, but at least it's true to it's own original concept: hundreds of perpetual adolescents gather to make snarky comments about world events. This book, however, tries to pretend to have something serious to say about the News Industry- a concept that has merit, but is totally beyond the intellectual reach of it's author. It's as though Dane Cook decided to write a book deconstructing the career and achievements of George Carlin.
 Fark Dis August 9, 2008
doomsdayer520 (Pennsylvania)
The Fark.com website is a hilarious indictment of the ridiculousness and uselessness of Mass Media, and this here book is meant mostly for laughs. (Solid in-depth critiques of stupid news, usually with a focus on corporate/advertiser pressure, are easily found elsewhere.) On the good side, Drew Curtis has some pretty good insights on why news is so dumb these days, from the perspective of the informed outside observer. Good examples are his solid hatchet jobs on news coverage of Janet Jackson's Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction or Dick Cheney's face shooting incident. Curtis also has a pretty well-considered closing chapter on how Mass Media is failing in light of the Internet, shooting down the old boys who continue to live with their heads in the sand.
But Curtis keeps falling back into thin examples of ridiculous stories that amount to little more than a boring list. There is also a lot of unintentional irony here, as Curtis is guilty of many of weaknesses that he sarcastically condemns from Mass Media. For example, he blasts mainstream journalists for a lack of fact-checking. But here he states that Alexander Hamilton is on the $20 bill; and says he was in middle school when Johnny Carson left his show (1992) after earlier saying several times that he was in college in the early 90s. Also, Curtis slams journalists for pasting old material into new stories to take up space. But a large amount of space in this book is pasted submissions from the Fark.com message board. A few of these are surprisingly insightful but most are the cheeky pseudo-commentary that you'd expect.
This book is still good for laughs as you read about instances of stupid journalism from lazy journalists. But it's unclear how serious Curtis is trying to be in terms of analysis and insight on very important media issues. But in the end, this book gives the impression that it doesn't take its subject matter too seriously. Readers with the same mindset will enjoy it - for a while. [~doomsdayer520~]
 Great book! June 5, 2008
M. Allen (Farkington NE)
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
WOW! What an awesome book. My table has leaned to the right for years. I bought this book and now my table is level and doesn't wobble. Thanks Drew!
Don't read it, it's a trap! June 5, 2008
Phillip Jansen (Tamap Bay, FL)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Admiral Ackbar and a squirrel with nuts the size of bowling balls were huffing gold paint and being general attention whores and failed to inspire a huge manatee into bursting into flames. Really a boring story...
Beware of the Media's Agenda May 31, 2008
Victoria Key (Buckeye, Az USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book will make you laugh, make you cry, and propably make you mad. You will discover how you have been duped by the Media to dance to their tune. I have always known the Media will only tell you what they want you to know to achieve their ratings and their agenda but to finally see it in print is great. The truth lies between the lines, it's up to us to find it.
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