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Won't Get Fooled Again: A Graphic Guide To Fake News
How do we tell which news is real? Won’t Get Fooled Again is the definitive graphic guide to the fake news phenomenon, as seen through the eyes and ears of students, seniors, families, and consumers. No one is impervious to its effects—but there are ways to fight back.
Using real examples from around the world, Erin Steuter explains how governments, advertisers, powerful corporations, and think tanks can influence news media to manipulate voters or reap billions in profits. Meticulously researched and accessibly written, this comic will educate, elucidate, and entertain.
Using real examples from around the world, Erin Steuter explains how governments, advertisers, powerful corporations, and think tanks can influence news media to manipulate voters or reap billions in profits. Meticulously researched and accessibly written, this comic will educate, elucidate, and entertain.
- GenresGraphic NovelsNonfiction
207 pages, ebook
Published May 10, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 6, 2020
*Oh, I just noticed that this is my #750 review!*
Really conflicted here.
I love the message, but I do not like the rest.
Explaining all the issues of Fake News and what it involves, Media, Politics, how we get fooled, how media get fooled etc. This is a very strong point.
My favourite was IV Part which focused on the history of fake news; I just wish it was a bit more detailed.
However, I have to say that I disliked the art, and I found the text hard to read. As for the art, I expected something with a similar vibe to the cover. Plus, I did not entirely like the tone of the book. It is shelved as "nonfiction (Adult)", but I totally disagree. The way things were said and explained, I thought for a moment that it was targeted at a younger audience. It was just irritating.
Overall, I would probably rate this somewhere between 2,5 and 3 stars.
***Advance Review Copy generously provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***
Really conflicted here.
I love the message, but I do not like the rest.
Explaining all the issues of Fake News and what it involves, Media, Politics, how we get fooled, how media get fooled etc. This is a very strong point.
My favourite was IV Part which focused on the history of fake news; I just wish it was a bit more detailed.
However, I have to say that I disliked the art, and I found the text hard to read. As for the art, I expected something with a similar vibe to the cover. Plus, I did not entirely like the tone of the book. It is shelved as "nonfiction (Adult)", but I totally disagree. The way things were said and explained, I thought for a moment that it was targeted at a younger audience. It was just irritating.
Overall, I would probably rate this somewhere between 2,5 and 3 stars.
***Advance Review Copy generously provided through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***
April 30, 2020
"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes."
This collection has a very interesting premise, so I was excited to read. I don't think anyone goes a whole day - a whole hour - without being impacted by fake news. This collection showed dozens of examples and scenarios of people falling for fake news, being unable to identify real from fake news stories, and just being plain ignorant.
But I did find myself asking: who is the audience? Are we targeting millennials, boomers, students, who? I felt the book was unfocused in this sense, where I couldn't pinpoint who was supposed to be reading and why.
Along that same vein, I felt that the comics were too "on the nose." I would read the comic and love the undertones of ignorance and sometimes straight-up stupidity...then that buzz would be ruined. Some characters would flat-out say the point of the comic and what we, the reader, is supposed to gather from it.nThis is how it's brought back to my point about audience: who are you trying to reach if you aren't asking your reader to think? Isn't that the point of this collection, to think and analyze what is happening around us? The collections would have been so much more powerful if left as satire.
My hard feelings about having my hand held during every comic was accentuated by the fact that many comics were similar, almost identical. In each section of the collection I picked out maybe 2 or 3 unique comics and the rest were redundant. The collection seemed 100 pages longer than it should have been.
My final thoughts: I think this is a punchy collection of hard truths. Maybe you could learn something from it, maybe you could chuckle at some (almost) satirical comics. Even though you may not want to sit and read the entire collection, flipping through and reading a few would definitely be worth your time.
"You know, unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
*I received a digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
This collection has a very interesting premise, so I was excited to read. I don't think anyone goes a whole day - a whole hour - without being impacted by fake news. This collection showed dozens of examples and scenarios of people falling for fake news, being unable to identify real from fake news stories, and just being plain ignorant.
But I did find myself asking: who is the audience? Are we targeting millennials, boomers, students, who? I felt the book was unfocused in this sense, where I couldn't pinpoint who was supposed to be reading and why.
Along that same vein, I felt that the comics were too "on the nose." I would read the comic and love the undertones of ignorance and sometimes straight-up stupidity...then that buzz would be ruined. Some characters would flat-out say the point of the comic and what we, the reader, is supposed to gather from it.nThis is how it's brought back to my point about audience: who are you trying to reach if you aren't asking your reader to think? Isn't that the point of this collection, to think and analyze what is happening around us? The collections would have been so much more powerful if left as satire.
My hard feelings about having my hand held during every comic was accentuated by the fact that many comics were similar, almost identical. In each section of the collection I picked out maybe 2 or 3 unique comics and the rest were redundant. The collection seemed 100 pages longer than it should have been.
My final thoughts: I think this is a punchy collection of hard truths. Maybe you could learn something from it, maybe you could chuckle at some (almost) satirical comics. Even though you may not want to sit and read the entire collection, flipping through and reading a few would definitely be worth your time.
"You know, unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
*I received a digital ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*
April 27, 2020
Not sure if this is going to persuade any of the people out there that believe every story that they see sent to them by their great-aunt's best friend's cousin, but at least it is out there to show how fake news spreads, and how the truth gets buried.
Very appropriate for these uncertain times where even the government, who you would think would at least tell some semblance of truth, spreads falsehoods.
Told in graphic novel style, with different groups of people discussing and learning how to spot fake news, this books covers all sorts of ways that false and distorted stories get circulated and believed.
There are also lessons in how to spot fake news, and how to do due diligence.
Sounds like a lot of work for most people, but it good to have the information there, along with examples.
And the main take away is if it sounds too far fetched to be true, it usually is not.
And look, I didn't make any comments, until this sentence, about the worse spreader, who is currently, as of this writing, occupying the White House.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
Very appropriate for these uncertain times where even the government, who you would think would at least tell some semblance of truth, spreads falsehoods.
Told in graphic novel style, with different groups of people discussing and learning how to spot fake news, this books covers all sorts of ways that false and distorted stories get circulated and believed.
There are also lessons in how to spot fake news, and how to do due diligence.
Sounds like a lot of work for most people, but it good to have the information there, along with examples.
And the main take away is if it sounds too far fetched to be true, it usually is not.
And look, I didn't make any comments, until this sentence, about the worse spreader, who is currently, as of this writing, occupying the White House.
Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.
April 21, 2020
This black and white comic shows slightly unlikely circumstances where people see, talk about, or click on fake news – and of course how politicians nowadays call something that seems even remotely critical of them 'fake news'. I didn't expect it to take this style – I'd thought there would be some authorial voice, some narrator or other guiding character to see us all through the topic, and statistics and graphs all over the place. But none of that appeared – we just get scenario after scenario. Authority here comes then from characters that are running tests and research into the concept, a kind of game show based on identifying fake news, and some very savvy kids teaching their racist elders what's what. We're told, however, the young and those not educated to degree level are the worst at telling whether things have veracity or not – although we're also told the older generations share from fake news sites the most. The book has someone vocally berate the current president – if not mention him by name, and a lot of angst about criticism of Islam and immigrants.
Towards the end we've seen several characters return, such as a punk journalist struggling to combat but also telling us about fake news, and some old timers at a coffee shop, whose wait staff give us punchy chapter closers. Similar to that is a dog who quotes classical authors to us, and a selection of posters in the newspaper offices. All told there's a high rate of information, opinion and fact on these pages, and it's all highly, highly important. So while this isn't exactly high on entertainment values, it's been more than competently put together, and rates strongly for the values it so clearly conveys. Not sure we needed the talking mice, though.
Towards the end we've seen several characters return, such as a punk journalist struggling to combat but also telling us about fake news, and some old timers at a coffee shop, whose wait staff give us punchy chapter closers. Similar to that is a dog who quotes classical authors to us, and a selection of posters in the newspaper offices. All told there's a high rate of information, opinion and fact on these pages, and it's all highly, highly important. So while this isn't exactly high on entertainment values, it's been more than competently put together, and rates strongly for the values it so clearly conveys. Not sure we needed the talking mice, though.
May 4, 2020
"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." Mark Twain in "The wit and wisdom".
Powerful men always tried to manipulate information and medias to serve their own interests. But beware, believing what "everyone says" have the potential for hazardous and very concrete consequences.
The different chapters present all the different ways false informations can spread and point out the misinformation problematics very well (ex: mainstream news can get fooled too! = it's hard to know who to believe, etc)
It's intelligent, exhaustive, informed and informative. Also solutions are given all along the book to double check informations and sources by yourself, and that book wouldn't have been really complete without that.
Long story short, a very useful book that everyone should read, for everyone's benefit and a better world, even.
Thanks a lot to NetGalley and Between the Lines Editions for this advanced copy. You did an amazing job here and in the public interest.
Powerful men always tried to manipulate information and medias to serve their own interests. But beware, believing what "everyone says" have the potential for hazardous and very concrete consequences.
The different chapters present all the different ways false informations can spread and point out the misinformation problematics very well (ex: mainstream news can get fooled too! = it's hard to know who to believe, etc)
It's intelligent, exhaustive, informed and informative. Also solutions are given all along the book to double check informations and sources by yourself, and that book wouldn't have been really complete without that.
Long story short, a very useful book that everyone should read, for everyone's benefit and a better world, even.
Thanks a lot to NetGalley and Between the Lines Editions for this advanced copy. You did an amazing job here and in the public interest.
March 29, 2022
This is the second or third scholarly graphic literature work that I have read. As I have said before, I am not convinced that the medium of graphic literature is well suited to non-narrative, non-fiction. I love innovation in all forms and particularly in this medium that I love, so I applaud the pioneering effort.
This work was geared to highschool and young post-secondary students. As I teach the latter, I know how difficult it is (impossible) to get students to read even a few required readings let alone more weighty optional works. As this topic (fake news and information quality) is very possibly the most important topic in the world right now (as it influences governments, climate change, public health, wars, etc.), this is something we need people to know about. So, any effort here to help people be more critical consumers and spreaders of information is the utmost crucial work.
I should clarify that there is a cross-sections (5-8) mini-stories interspliced. They are not full-fledged stories but rather a series of people who talk to one another about information validity. This does help make the otherwise dry subject matter more lively, personally relevant, and suitable for the conventions of the medium. But there are too many scenarios with too many characters and the characters are insufficiently distinguished narratively and visually for one to be able to follow what is going on.
As a scholarly book (it was written by a professor and contains excellent end references) there is a lot of information conveyed to cover the width and depth of the issue. But it, with all the many characters and scenarios, needs to be reduced to be clear and more engaging.
The art could have helped here. It is black and white with a very rough, sketchy quality. Full-colour and more polished visuals would have helped make the book not only look better but read more clearly. But, I get that this would require a huge budget that was just not feasible.
Overall, I think the authors should be praised for attempting something new and innovative to help tackle this overwhelming, yet vital issue.
This work was geared to highschool and young post-secondary students. As I teach the latter, I know how difficult it is (impossible) to get students to read even a few required readings let alone more weighty optional works. As this topic (fake news and information quality) is very possibly the most important topic in the world right now (as it influences governments, climate change, public health, wars, etc.), this is something we need people to know about. So, any effort here to help people be more critical consumers and spreaders of information is the utmost crucial work.
I should clarify that there is a cross-sections (5-8) mini-stories interspliced. They are not full-fledged stories but rather a series of people who talk to one another about information validity. This does help make the otherwise dry subject matter more lively, personally relevant, and suitable for the conventions of the medium. But there are too many scenarios with too many characters and the characters are insufficiently distinguished narratively and visually for one to be able to follow what is going on.
As a scholarly book (it was written by a professor and contains excellent end references) there is a lot of information conveyed to cover the width and depth of the issue. But it, with all the many characters and scenarios, needs to be reduced to be clear and more engaging.
The art could have helped here. It is black and white with a very rough, sketchy quality. Full-colour and more polished visuals would have helped make the book not only look better but read more clearly. But, I get that this would require a huge budget that was just not feasible.
Overall, I think the authors should be praised for attempting something new and innovative to help tackle this overwhelming, yet vital issue.
May 12, 2020
I really wanted to love and learn from this book. And it was fine, but not the great experience I was hoping for. It's hard to tackle a topic this complex in a interesting, concise way (because "Falsehood flies and truth comes limping after it."). The book did do a great job highlighting the many, many ways fake news is created and propagated (and why) and how politicians use the info and even the term falsely to discredit their detractors. And very impressively, the book is impeccably sourced and end noted.
That said, I found the art style a bit too sketchy/impressionistic and distracting from the truth and the short vignettes were a bit too pat and easy (discussions about fake news aren't often calm in my experience). And worse and depressingly, the solutions were somewhat impractical (I for one don't have time to research every claim about everything independently), uncool (put on a play about fake news?), or contradictory (check sources in the mainstream media but don't trust corporate-funded mainstream media?). Although maybe I'm the one at fault for wanting an easy solution and not wanting to put the extensive time needed to do participatory, grassroots, honest, activist, coalition-building democracy the right way.
In the end this was a good overview of a pernicious problem that, unfortunately, has no easy answers.
**Thanks to the author, artist, publisher, and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
That said, I found the art style a bit too sketchy/impressionistic and distracting from the truth and the short vignettes were a bit too pat and easy (discussions about fake news aren't often calm in my experience). And worse and depressingly, the solutions were somewhat impractical (I for one don't have time to research every claim about everything independently), uncool (put on a play about fake news?), or contradictory (check sources in the mainstream media but don't trust corporate-funded mainstream media?). Although maybe I'm the one at fault for wanting an easy solution and not wanting to put the extensive time needed to do participatory, grassroots, honest, activist, coalition-building democracy the right way.
In the end this was a good overview of a pernicious problem that, unfortunately, has no easy answers.
**Thanks to the author, artist, publisher, and NetGalley for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.
April 25, 2020
First off, I’d like to thank the publisher Between the Lines for providing me with a free e-copy of this graphic novel on NetGalley. I would not have been able to read and review this book otherwise. This is an adult nonfiction graphic novel that provides insight into how much fake news is a part of what we see on social media or what we hear on the television. So many news stories nowadays do not provide the complete truth, often changing it in ways that will help to up the article’s number of views.
What makes this book different from other graphic novels is how it provides the reader with helpful information while also providing a fun format to read it in. Personally, I have never experienced a comic/graphic novel that is informative and intends to teach the reader something new. This graphic novel provided me with greater insight into how I should be fact-checking with other news stories and articles before I believe what I’m reading or hearing.
To be honest, if I had come across this book at the library or bookstore, I most likely would not have picked it up. However, I am a newcomer to NetGalley and am hoping to put myself outside of my comfort zone more regarding the books I read, so I thought I would request this book and give it a try. I am really glad I made that decision, and I look forward to putting my new knowledge to use on future articles and news stories.
What makes this book different from other graphic novels is how it provides the reader with helpful information while also providing a fun format to read it in. Personally, I have never experienced a comic/graphic novel that is informative and intends to teach the reader something new. This graphic novel provided me with greater insight into how I should be fact-checking with other news stories and articles before I believe what I’m reading or hearing.
To be honest, if I had come across this book at the library or bookstore, I most likely would not have picked it up. However, I am a newcomer to NetGalley and am hoping to put myself outside of my comfort zone more regarding the books I read, so I thought I would request this book and give it a try. I am really glad I made that decision, and I look forward to putting my new knowledge to use on future articles and news stories.
May 9, 2020
This is a good, basic introduction of the proliferation of fake news, the motivations of its creators and those who share it, the challenges many people face in identifying it, and the role of journalism in both its spread and the fight against it. Some of the scenarios play out as more realistic than others, but by the end of the book, standing up for truth when you hear someone repeating fake news does start to feel normalized, which is very important (and difficult). I could have done without the mouseland scenes and the anthropomorphized dog thinking quotes from philosophers--sticking to the straight facts about fake news would have been a better choice for this book, in my opinion.
It took me a little while to get in the rhythm of the scenarios and who the characters were, but I appreciated that the author and illustrator chose to use this method to be able to delve into different facets of fake news. Journalists at a newspaper, a family of multiple generations getting together, an immediate family with kids learning about fake news at school, a group of college students...all have different experiences of and with fake news, and seeing those perspectives is helpful.
Given that this is really a primer, I would have liked to see the takeaways really pulled out to be actionable and memorable. Some editorial voice would have been helpful, but on the whole this is a good introduction not just to the topic but to ways to combat it. Thanks to the publisher for a NetGalley.
It took me a little while to get in the rhythm of the scenarios and who the characters were, but I appreciated that the author and illustrator chose to use this method to be able to delve into different facets of fake news. Journalists at a newspaper, a family of multiple generations getting together, an immediate family with kids learning about fake news at school, a group of college students...all have different experiences of and with fake news, and seeing those perspectives is helpful.
Given that this is really a primer, I would have liked to see the takeaways really pulled out to be actionable and memorable. Some editorial voice would have been helpful, but on the whole this is a good introduction not just to the topic but to ways to combat it. Thanks to the publisher for a NetGalley.
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May 7, 2020Thank you to netgalley for the arc copy of this book!
I thought this graphic guide was very informational and thoroughly researched.
As a mass communication major this book was very helpful in retaining my knowledge from some of my classes I have taken this semester!
However I did have some issues with this book.
My first and main issue was the art style. I found it to be very lackluster and disengaging similar to what you would see in the comics section of the newspaper. While this won’t bother some, it personally bothered me as a graphic novel reader. My other issue is with formatting of this book in my digital copy. If you were to read this physically I don’t think you would have any issues reading it but my ebook copy was very hard to read with graphics being split across multiple pages.
Overall I think this would be great when used in an educational context but for enjoyment purposes it wasn’t something I personally enjoyed
I thought this graphic guide was very informational and thoroughly researched.
As a mass communication major this book was very helpful in retaining my knowledge from some of my classes I have taken this semester!
However I did have some issues with this book.
My first and main issue was the art style. I found it to be very lackluster and disengaging similar to what you would see in the comics section of the newspaper. While this won’t bother some, it personally bothered me as a graphic novel reader. My other issue is with formatting of this book in my digital copy. If you were to read this physically I don’t think you would have any issues reading it but my ebook copy was very hard to read with graphics being split across multiple pages.
Overall I think this would be great when used in an educational context but for enjoyment purposes it wasn’t something I personally enjoyed
May 17, 2020
Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy of this graphic novel for review.
I think this particular book would be great for discussions in a school context. It covers important topics and the reasons we should always question what we read and are told - real vs fake news, why news might be fake or only partially true and who benefits.
While the busy black and white pallet lends well to a News theme, in the end the pages were so busy with images, shading and text that I found it hard to concentrate due to eye strain.
While the majority of this book was not new information to me, it's always a great topic to reinforce and I enjoyed learning a new phrase, ‘Cut Bono” (who benefits), I’ve never heard it before and it is a great succinct way of discussing the truth of news.
I was surprised to see a list of sources at the back linking to academic texts and feel this would have benefited from having a forward with some discussion prior to the graphic portion of the book.
I think this particular book would be great for discussions in a school context. It covers important topics and the reasons we should always question what we read and are told - real vs fake news, why news might be fake or only partially true and who benefits.
While the busy black and white pallet lends well to a News theme, in the end the pages were so busy with images, shading and text that I found it hard to concentrate due to eye strain.
While the majority of this book was not new information to me, it's always a great topic to reinforce and I enjoyed learning a new phrase, ‘Cut Bono” (who benefits), I’ve never heard it before and it is a great succinct way of discussing the truth of news.
I was surprised to see a list of sources at the back linking to academic texts and feel this would have benefited from having a forward with some discussion prior to the graphic portion of the book.
May 25, 2020
This book discusses and demonstrates how Fake News invades our daily lives, and how to fight it. It presents many concepts of information literacy and critical thinking in an engaging and inclusive manner. Groups of people (mostly families) encounter and discuss Fake News in their daily life - family dinners, trivia nights, kaffeeklatsches, chatting with co-workers, and shopping. Each chapter will present an idea and then re-frame it through the different discussions. The repetition can be a bit much, so i suggest looking at individual chapters instead of reading it all in one go.
I definitely want to include it in my info lit workshops.
I definitely want to include it in my info lit workshops.
May 22, 2020
Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC of this book to read and review.
I found that graphic novels tend to make difficult subjects easier to follow and I think this book makes a great case for that. Fake news is definatly something the people of 2020 are dealing with heavily. While I did find the comics a bit "on the nose," overall this is a good guide to understand how quickly misinformation can spread in our current digital climate. A great read and a well thought out blunt message.
I found that graphic novels tend to make difficult subjects easier to follow and I think this book makes a great case for that. Fake news is definatly something the people of 2020 are dealing with heavily. While I did find the comics a bit "on the nose," overall this is a good guide to understand how quickly misinformation can spread in our current digital climate. A great read and a well thought out blunt message.
May 8, 2020
Whilst the aim of this graphic-novel type book is noble, showing that fake news is abundant and widespread and emphasising the importance of fact-checking before spreading falsehoods, I found that it became very repetitive after a while and the art style was very simplistic and not particularly engaging.
June 21, 2020
I thought I was pretty clued-up on fake news, but I did learn a lot from this. It could have been better organised, and a lot of the pieces seemed to tread the same ground, but there's still some useful stuff here. The graphic format opens it up to a wider audience too.
April 28, 2020
A fascinating look at fake news and what to do in order to not get fooled by it. I really liked the graphic approach because it make it fun to read.
November 18, 2021
Decent book, little repetitive.
July 30, 2023
I great gift for the facebooking boomer in your life. Simple, straight forward.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews