Review | Fake news and the mainstream media come under fire in American activist’s new book
Plus, British novelist David Lodge’s insightful if meandering memoir
by James O’Keefe
St Martin’s Press
4/5 stars
James O’Keefe and his Project Veritas team of undercover reporters rely on the sting to reveal what they insist to be the truth. The key distinction between them and establishment reporters is that “while we use deception to gain access, we never deceive our audience”. That, apparently, is the domain of media behemoths, which O’Keefe argues present the world according to a pre-written script.
The polemical us-versus-them argument diminishes what are otherwise interesting insights into the state of media in the “fake news” era. The 33-year-old American activist, however, offers only a black-and-white version of reality: mainstream journalism is all about identity, he contends, whereas people like him are engaged in an activity. Sure, he and his Veritas muckrakers have brought down wrongdoers and caused embarrassment (one of their videos showed CNN staff ridiculing the network’s own Russia coverage). But content publishing and activism should not be confused with journalism. Neither should employ trickery.
O’Keefe’s “synergy” with Donald Trump does him no favours either – although he would probably consider that the view of the chardonnay-swilling 1 per cent telling the 99 per cent what is news and what is not.
by David Lodge
Harvill Secker
