The book list...
Updated as of 1/27.
There aren't any easy answers to how to fix our news and information systems. And we don't know if improving these systems will be enough to matter in the wider world.
But I trust that some answers, at least, can be found in books and the places that hold them. I started with my local library and the shelves of a few independent bookstores nearby. It's always worked for me before.
Here are the books I'm in the middle of, or am planning on reading right now. I'll make this a running list. Any thoughts on these books, or titles you want to recommend? What are they sparking for you? I'm reading plenty of articles and listening to podcasts too, but if they're particularly impactful, I'll write about them separately.
Books are listed in alphabetical order by title.
Democracy's Detectives; The Economics of Investigative Journalism by James Hamilton: Hamilton's work is part of my personal cannon. His work on information gaps gave me the spark I had been looking for in 2015 before starting Outlier. By learning more about the economic models responsible for the news we have, we can know more about what it will take to get the news we want. At its heart is a deep dive into the incentives that keep investigative journalism, a function that helps define the value of the entire news project, so marginal to most news organizations output.
Forgiveness by Matthew Ichihashi Potts: This academic book about the Christian idea of forgiveness should be required reading for any reporter who cares about accountability. My assumptions about accountability were profoundly shifted by a new understanding of how deeply we embed a deference for power into even our personal emotional assumptions.
Holding Change by adrienne maree brown: Brown's "Emergent Strategy" is full of notes because I return to it every time I feel like I could use some help thinking through a big decision or idea. I'm excited to see where "Holding Change" picks up.
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Friere: Ta-Nehisi Coates mentions this classic in “The Message.” I've wanted to return to this book since I read excerpts in college.
Meander, Spiral, Explode by Jane Allison: This book was recommended to me by Sonam Vashi. It looks for alternatives to the typical wave narrative story structure; rising action followed by a swell of climax before a resolution. Allison looks to more complex but still recognizable patterns in nature—like a spiral—that could inspire more complex stories. I felt like I was left without much of an understanding of the possible benefits of these alternatives, but Allison did teach me the word narratologist. It's an actual discipline! These people study narrative structure and its effect on readers and listeners. Am googling.
News on the Internet, Information and Citizenship in the 21st Century by David Tewsksbury and Jason Rittenberg: Published in 2012, this academic book was written when newsrooms and the news business were being actively transformed by the internet. It's an incredible time capsule, but not precious or nostalgic. Tewsksbury and Rittenberg called the rise of influencer culture, and said it would come with a de-emphasis on an informed citizenry. They also make the somber point that the newspaper industry peaked in 1910(!), which lends a lot of credence to Jenn Brandel's talk about the two loops model. Journalism as we understand has been obsolescent, but something new might finally be emerging. I dedicated an entire post to the lessons from this book and why an economic concept called Hotellings law might explain why so much of news is just so... mid.
The Hero's Journey by Joseph Campbell: I remember Campbell's gargantuan “The Power of Myth” on my dad's bookshelf when I was a teenager but never thought about picking it up. I found an easier entry point with this much slimmer Campbell title. I wondered if there might be answers about the staying power of narrative from learning about myths we reinvent over and over. There are! This book is a compilation of different lectures, talks, and interviews Campbell gave during his long life. Campbell says two things in particular that have stuck with me. First, he says, when myth crafters were also close to the church or state their myths became useful to these institutions because of their explicit frame of conflict. Stories framed around conflict almost always have the justification of domination as their endpoint. (Mind. Blown). Most news stories are also told through a lens of conflict, and journalists and editors should interrogate the effect of this frame on larger narratives of domination and oppression. Another nugget of wisdom; many of the stories we have relied on to make sense of the world throughout human history were intended to explain individuals or phenomena. We continue to rely on them to explain society even as they might not be fit for that use. What would stories explicitly designed to help us navigate a complicated and multicultural society look like? To combine some of Campbell's thoughts with those of Matthew Ichihashi Potts, another author on this list,"Self actualization is cultural." Helpful to remind ourselves that narratives shape the very ideas of who we are and what we owe to each other.
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates: Nobody can demonstrate the power of narratives to heal and harm like Coates. I feel lucky just to read his work. I've seen the phrase "moral clarity" in more than one review of his new book. That's true, but what I find more valuable is his willingness to work through difficult ideas on the page, and draw his reader into that challenge. It's very respectful, and made me feel accompanied as a reader. The format he's chosen for the book is a series of essays written as letters to his students, and it works well for this light guiding touch. Coates is such an incredible writer he can overcome the shortfalls of long form narrative to create impact. I hope Coates writes many more books and articles. I also hope excellent reporters but less talented writers are not stuck with formats that prioritize being incredible at the latter.
Traffic by Ben Smith: Reporting about the time of Buzzfeed versus Gawker and how the pissing match between two guys ended up birthing news as infotainment in the attention economy. Oops! Every time I think about polarization and post-truth I think about Buzzfeed's blue dress/yellow dress quiz, which does get a chapter. This book is a case study of what aligning content to economic incentives looks like in practice. But the bro of it all is a lot to take. The main characters of this story, architects of our online media predecessors, were remarkably unencumbered by a sense of purpose outside their own personal accumulation of power, money, or both. They are largely ambitious, and news curious men, unconcerned with the larger ramifications of their actions.
The Great Wave, by Michiko Kakuatni: The subtitle of this book is, "the era of radical disruption and the rise of the outsider. It seeks to understand why the last few decades have had us careening from one crisis to the next; COVID-19, climate change, wars, etc. and thinks much of it can be explained through the weaponization of social dynamics. Almost done with this one, and need to synthesize my notes.
Please! Send me your recommendations for books, articles and papers that can help me think more expansively about what news can and should offer our communities.
