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The News

A User’s Manual

Alain De Botton

Pantheon Books, 2014

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In his earlier books, London author Alain de Botton turned a fresh eye on architecture, religion and sex. Now he addresses the news. The information age releases an hourly torrent of headlines, but people are no more knowledgeable because of it. Examining six categories of news – political, international, economic, celebrity-focused, tragic and consumer-oriented – de Botton relates the headlines to bigger ideas: human frailty, mortality, and the search for security and happiness. Purveyors of news would do well to put the day’s events in the context of these age-old themes. The media landscape that de Botton calls “the news” is not as monolithic as he implies – but his provocative insights give editors and news consumers food for thought. getAbstract recommends this breezy manual to media executives looking to make the news more interesting and relevant, and to audiences who want to read and view news more critically.

Summary

News Is Everywhere

People repeatedly interrupt their day to check the news – expecting to learn something critical, important or entertaining. They take in plenty of facts, but little knowledge.

The German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel observed that when societies become modern, news supplants religion as a source of direction and “a touchstone of authority.” Audiences in the developed world turn to the news to “receive revelations, learn who is good and bad, fathom suffering and understand the unfolding logic of existence.”

Most people learn more in school about how to study a Shakespearean play than about how to analyze the front page of a major newspaper. Yet, the news is most adults’ primary path to society and the wider world. The media’s audience faces a barrage of facts – some alarming, some bewildering and some entertaining. But those facts constitute just “one set of stories” about what’s going on. The world remains bigger than the news.

“Politics”

Every morning brings a flood of political headlines. Knowing what to make of them is hard. Each development is a “minuscule moment” in a longer story. Trying to derive meaning from these items is...

About the Author

Alain de Botton, a resident of London, is the author of best-selling nonfiction books including The Architecture of Happiness, The Art of Travel and How Proust Can Change Your Life.

The News

A User’s Manual

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News Is Everywhere

“Politics”

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