Bad News

How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy

By: Batya Ungar-Sargon

Narrated by: Batya Ungar-Sargon

Something is wrong with American journalism. Long before “fake news” became the calling card of the Right, Americans had lost faith in their news media. But lately, the feeling that something is off has become impossible to ignore. That’s because the majority of our mainstream news is no longer just liberal; it’s woke. Today’s newsrooms are propagating radical ideas that were fringe as recently as a decade ago, including “antiracism,” intersectionality, open borders, and critical race theory. How did this come to be?

It all has to do with who our news media is written by—and who it is written for. In Bad News: How Woke Media Is Undermining Democracy, Batya Ungar-Sargon reveals how American journalism underwent a status revolution over the twentieth century—from a blue-collar trade to an elite profession. As a result, journalists shifted their focus away from the working class and toward the concerns of their affluent, highly educated peers. With the rise of the Internet and the implosion of local news, America’s elite news media became nationalized and its journalists affluent and ideological. And where once business concerns provided a countervailing force to push back against journalists’ worst tendencies, the pressures of the digital media landscape now align corporate incentives with newsroom crusades.

The truth is, the moral panic around race, encouraged by today’s elite newsrooms, does little more than consolidate the power of liberal elites and protect their economic interests. And in abandoning the working class by creating a culture war around identity, our national media is undermining American democracy. Bad News explains how this happened, why it happened, and the dangers posed by this development if it continues unchecked.

©2021 Batya Ungar-Sargon (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

A scathing critique of the media and how it divides us

Love the subject matter. Lame stream media is so proficient at dividing us along political lines, while sweeping class lines under the rug. the story of Pulitzer is a great way to give context to the modern struggle between wealth and poverty.

Balanced, informative, and insightful

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I purchased “Bad News”, but I was impressed by the author’s willingness to appear on conservative, mainstream, and liberal media to discuss her book and opinions. “Bad News” is the best book I have read on the historical and current state of the news media in the US. Refreshingly, it is neither a liberal nor conservative polemic. Finally, the author provides terrific advice on how to heal the wounds of division and polarization in our country.

Incredible read!

Thank you Batya for offering your insightful commentary! As a member of the left, your book framed so much of our culture-war discourse in a brand new perspective.

Thoughtful

I could listen to Batya narrate all day - her book is well researched and well argued.

The News Is Very Bad

The News Is Very Bad but this book tries to point the way back. I give the author credit and respect.