DON’T TRUST: VERIFY – A Field Guide to Bad Journalism is an indispensable book for understanding journalism in the 2020s and beyond. It explains how the news media got the way it is, helps you understand what it is really saying, and gives you tools to find the truth behind it.

The news is unreliable. It tells us things that we later find out were false. Should you believe that masks are necessary to keep children safe, or that they are harmful over time? Are gas price increases due to domestic choices, or international shortages? Is the Outrage of the Day™ part of a real trend, or is it merely a trick to get you to click?

Most “Media Literacy” programs start with divining which media sources to trust, but this is totally wrong: all reputable sources get things wrong every day. Most fact-checkers are regularly wrong, too. You shouldn’t trust any of them. You can’t be an expert on everything, but that doesn’t mean you have to believe everything you’re told.

DON’T TRUST: VERIFY – A Field Guide to Bad Journalism answers the question: How can you know what to believe?

My name is Chris Nandor. I have a degree in journalism, but don’t hold that against me. I decided I hated the news business, and learned to code. I’ve written many articles and some books about computer programming, as well as lots of software. I’ve written many songs. I’ve written analyses of laws and bills and court decisions. I’ve written an embarrassing number of posts on social media and newsgroups and bulletin boards.

I write a lot.

In all of my writing, one of the recurring themes is that I like people to be well-informed. It’s a big part of why I got into journalism. Therefore, I despise misinformation. It’s a big part of why I got out of journalism.

I can’t make you well-informed. I can’t write about every issue that people aren’t well-informed about, and get them to read and believe what I write. But I can help people figure out how to be well-informed on their own.

I’ve been a consumer and critic of news media for decades, I’ve learned a lot, and I believe DON’T TRUST: VERIFY – A Field Guide to Bad Journalism is going to help you.