| It's Not News, It's Fark: How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap As News | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:   (based on 33 reviews)
Sales Rank: 782726
Category: Book
Author: Drew Curtis
Publisher: Gotham
Studio: Gotham
Manufacturer: Gotham
Label: Gotham
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8
ISBN: 1592403662
Dewey Decimal Number: 814
EAN: 9781592403660
ASIN: 1592403662
Publication Date: May 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Now in paperback, the hilarious expose on the media gone awry, from the creator of the wildly popular Fark.com
Have you ever noticed 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 six o?clock news (?Tsunami could hit the Atlantic any day!? Everybody panic!), or the seasonal articles that appear year after year (?Roads will be crowded this holiday season.? Thanks, AAA.) It?s Not News, It?s Fark is Drew Curtis?s 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. Drew exposes eight stranger-than-fiction media patterns that prove just how little reporting is going on in the world of reporters today. 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 along the way.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 28 more reviews...
 Not for anyone over the age or I.Q. of 13 December 26, 2008
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
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
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
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
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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