So I Chose a Graphic Novel...

The Influencing Machine by Brooke Gladstone was my pick. This graphic novel takes the reader through history analyzing "The Media" and the view that we as an audience have had throughout the years. I read half of the book (it's only 155 pages long) and even though it’s a graphic novel, it still took me quite some time to get to the middle. This novel focuses a lot on politics. I've never really been a fanatic of presidents, elections and laws so it has been a different experience for me. It also uses a lot of vocabulary that I didn't quite know. 

Penchant: (noun) a strong inclination.
taste, or liking for something.

 Before I started reading this novel, I thought that maybe the book would take a different approach on the media. Yes, of course I was expecting it to cover the history of journalism and obviously political journalism. I just didn’t think it would be all about those two topics only (or at least those are the only things that the novel has talked about up until where I've read). The subject of journalism and the media as a whole are topics that interest me a lot since I want to major in communications when I go to college. Although the book focuses more on elections and politics in general, I still would've liked for it to explore other types of journalism such as entertainment journalism or sports journalism. 

Libel: (noun) a published false
statement that is damaging to
a person's reputation.

 However, Gladstone still manages to convince me, and I can really tell she knows a lot about the subject. Since the beginning of the novel, I felt transported to 10th grade when I took AP US History. Terms like "The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798" and "Boston Tea Party" reminded me of the boringly tedious days back then. The author says, "The truth is irrelevant. Lying journalists helped build this country" (Page 15). That's why it's important to learn about the history of journalism; we need to understand where it all came from. 

 Something that really impressed me had to do with statistics. Gladstone says that the number 50,000 has been used as a statistic relating number of assassinations, abductions, and homicides. Year after year, reporters would often say that 50,000 people were victims of several different misfortunes. However, we then discover that "50,000 is a death magnet." She says that Ken Lanning explained this phenomenon like this: "It wasn't a real small number…like 200. And it wasn't a ridiculously large number…like 10 million. It was a Goldilocks number. Not too hot, not too cold" (Page 51). It's incredible that reporters simply give out this "Goldilocks number" just because it sounds like a good fit. These types of discoveries are what really take out the credibility of journalists. 

Ubiquitous: (adj.)
existing or being
everywhere.

 Despite all of this, what I am enjoying about this book is the register and tone that the author uses. Her register is informal and formal (gives her opinion, uses strong vocabulary, seems like a conversation between the writer and the reader, etc.). Her tone is witty and candid, which really hooks the audience (at least it really grabbed my attention due to her tone alone). I just hope that maybe in the pages to come Brooke can shift to other types of journalism, or maybe focus on other areas of the media.