News Media
Fiction in political news
In their 1988 book, Manufacturing Consent, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky argued that mass media distorts the news into political propaganda.
Having analyzed the evolution of historical myths, I decided to analyze the news: "the first draft of history."
How much fiction is in political news?
I examined news stories that many millions of persons accepted as true. During the U.S. Presidential election of 2016, did the news misrepresent the statements of the contentious candidate Donald Trump?
It was very controversial: countless Americans were fully convinced that Trump was dangerously deranged and that his statements were evidently malicious. Still, in a nonpartisan manner, I meticulously analyzed twenty news stories from 2015 to 2016, all involving Trump and the media. I used hundreds of primary sources, ranging from speeches to government records and court records.
Surprisingly, I found that in all of those twenty news stories, many reporters, columnists, and television pundits grossly misrepresented the facts. I exposed falsehoods published in The New York Times, CNN, NBC News, Fox News, The Washington Post, the Huffington Post, etc.
No other book has analyzed news stories in any American presidential campaign with such thoroughness. It clearly shows that American corporate media grossly distorts political news.
The Media versus the Apprentice: The Devil Mr. Trump
(Saltshadow Castle: Cambridge, 2019), iv+ 337 pp.
Featured on national TV news:
“HOAXED: The Movie”
El Ride Productions, January 24, 2019
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8991264/
Available at: http://hoaxedmovie.com/
“Trump’s Pledge to Kill Innocent People”
New Standard Press, December 20, 2016.
http://www.newstandardpress.com/trump-kill-innocent-people/
“The Myth of Trump and the KKK”
New Standard Press, December 19, 2016.
http://www.newstandardpress.com/the-myth-of-trump-and-the-kkk/
“How they Scared us about Hillary and Donald”
November 14, 2016, versions of this op-ed were published in the USA Today Newspapers: Arizona Republic (AZ), The Coloradoan (CO), DelawareOnline (DE), Iowa City Press-Citizen (IA), Louisville Courier Journal (KY), Springfield News-Leader (MO), Star Gazette (NY), Cincinnati Enquirer (OH), Knoxville News Sentinel (TN), Corpus Christi Caller Times (TX), Texas Perspectives (TX), Waco Tribune Herald (TX), Burlington Free Press (VT), Green Bay Press Gazette (WI), and the Wausau Daily Herald (WI).
“How Many People Celebrated in New Jersey on 9/11?”
New Standard Press, January 21, 2016.
http://www.newstandardpress.com/newjersey911/
“The Media Needs to Stop Telling this Lie about Donald Trump. I’m a Sanders Supporter—and Value Honesty,”
SALON, Editor’s pick: front page feature (2,012 words), Dec. 21, 2015. http://www.salon.com/2015/12/21/the_media_needs_to_stop_telling_this_lie_about_donald_trump_im_a_sanders_supporter_and_value_honesty/
“Here’s what’s known about Fred Trump’s arrest after a KKK clash”
PolitiFact, March 28, 2019.
“Edward Snowden’s Breaking Point”
New Standard Press, November 20, 2106, 1 page.
http://www.newstandardpress.com/edward-snowdens-breaking-point/
“Is the Civil War or First Human Spaceflight More Significant?”
Chron.com (Houston Chronicle, May 2011), pp. 1-2 (with responses). http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2011/05/is-the-civil-war-or-first-human-spaceflight-more-significant-an-historian-weighs-in/
“The Media and Trump”
Martinez interviewed on Full Measure, by Sharyl Attkisson, winner of five Emmy Awards for investigative journalism on television, Oct. 1, 2017 http://fullmeasure.news/news/politics/the-media-and-trump; also aired on December 24, 2017: http://fullmeasure.news/news/politics/the-media-and-trump-12-18-2017
REVIEWS
"Martínez shows that it’s possible to construct a fully consistent system of arithmetic in which minus times minus makes minus. It’s a wonderful vindication...”
JAKE RANDELL
AMERICAN SCIENTIST
"Martínez can certainly take credit for having produced by far the best and most detailed account of this important strand in Einstein's early work.”
JÜRGEN RENN
MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE
“An essential text for any future reserarch on Bruno, Galileo and The Inquisition. ...possibly the most important book of the year for the history of astronomy.”
CLIFFORD CUNNINGHAM
ASTRONOMICAL HISTORY
BOOKS
BIO
Alberto Martinez is originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico. As a professor at UT Austin, he investigates the history of science, especially Einstein and relativity theory, history of math, historical myths, and Giordano Bruno and Galileo. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.
He also researches myths in political news media, The Eyes of Texas, and episodes in the history of money and corruption.
Now, he's finishing writing a novel about Albert Einstein.