Quick Take
- Narration: Sharyl Attkisson narrates her own work with the measured authority of an investigative journalist, controlled, credible, and free of political theater despite the charged subject matter.
- Themes: Media bias and narrative capture, press freedom erosion, Silicon Valley censorship
- Mood: Urgent and evidential, the tone of a documented case being made rather than a rant being delivered
- Verdict: A rigorously sourced media critique from a five-time Emmy winner who has the receipts, best approached as investigative journalism rather than opinion commentary.
I finished Slanted on a quiet Saturday afternoon, and I spent most of the evening thinking about a single line from early in the book: when the facts don’t fit the Narrative, the media abandons the facts. That is Attkisson’s central argument, and she spends nine hours and forty-nine minutes building the evidentiary case for it. What distinguishes this from the dozens of media criticism books that have appeared in the past decade is who is making the argument and what access she had while making it.
Sharyl Attkisson is a five-time Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist and a New York Times bestselling author. She spent years inside the mainstream news apparatus before breaking with it publicly. That insider position matters enormously here. This is not an outsider critique of journalism from a pundit who watches cable news. It is a documented account from someone who worked inside CBS News and watched the editorial calculus shift in real time. Her previous book, The Smear, established her as a serious chronicler of media manipulation. Slanted extends that project with sharper focus and more recent examples.
The Insider Testimony That Anchors Everything
The most compelling material in the book comes from Attkisson’s on-record conversations with news executives and reporters from every major national television outlet, ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and MSNBC. These are people inside the institutions she is criticizing, and their willingness to speak candidly about the death of the news as they once knew it gives the book a different texture than most media criticism. This is not speculation or inference. It is testimony from practitioners watching their own profession degrade.
Reviewer Andrew Maile described Attkisson as someone who talks the talk and walks the walk, and that is the right framing. Her credibility is not borrowed from political alignment, she has drawn criticism from commentators on both sides of the partisan divide, which is itself a kind of journalistic credential. The chapter on misreporting around Black Lives Matter, the coronavirus, and Joe Biden covers contested ground, but Attkisson approaches it the way a reporter approaches any contested territory: with documented examples, named sources where possible, and a clear separation of what she observed from what she interpreted.
The Language Chapter and the Propaganda Toolkit
The most intellectually substantial section of the book is Attkisson’s deep dive into the language that media organizations now use to manage narrative rather than report facts. She identifies specific rhetorical patterns, the use of the word “debunked” without documentation, the labeling of verified information as “misinformation,” the framing devices that signal to readers which side of a story to trust before the evidence is presented. This is detailed, granular work, and it holds up under scrutiny. Linguists and rhetoric scholars have made similar observations in academic contexts; Attkisson makes the case accessible without losing the specificity that makes it credible.
The section on journalism schools teaching that personal truth and chosen narratives matter more than reality will disturb anyone who has spent time studying the craft’s professional history. Attkisson traces this shift with care, connecting institutional changes in editorial culture to changes in what is actually broadcast and published.
What to Bring to This Audiobook
The supplemental PDF that accompanies the audiobook is worth downloading before you begin. Attkisson’s arguments are sometimes dense with examples, and having the ability to check citations and follow up on specific incidents enhances the listening experience considerably. The self-narration is unhurried and precise, matching the measured evidentiary tone of the writing. She does not perform outrage; she presents documentation. That restraint is the book’s most persuasive quality.
Reviewer Gymbeaux wrote that Attkisson confirms what many listeners have personally suspected, and that is both the book’s strength and its limitation. Listeners who already question mainstream media’s objectivity will find their framework confirmed and expanded. Listeners who are skeptical of media criticism as a genre may find the book requires more openness to the premise than they can muster. The evidence is there; whether you find it decisive will depend partly on your prior orientation.
Listen if: You want a documented, insider account of how American television journalism shifted from fact-reporting to narrative management, written by someone who was inside the institutions and kept records.
Skip if: You want a balanced history of media that includes institutional defenses alongside critiques, or if you approach this as entertainment rather than journalism and find dense evidentiary argumentation slow going.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Slanted a partisan book, or does Attkisson hold multiple outlets and political interests accountable?
Attkisson explicitly frames the book as transcending partisan divides, and she criticizes outlets across the political spectrum. Her primary focus is on institutional editorial culture rather than political bias in the conventional sense, though some of her examples are inherently politically charged.
Does self-narrating this book work given that Attkisson is making arguments about her own career and former employers?
Unexpectedly well. Her journalistic training produces a narration style that is measured and evidence-forward rather than emotionally heated. She presents herself as a witness rather than a victim, which makes the more personal passages feel credible rather than self-serving.
What is in the supplemental PDF that accompanies the audiobook?
The PDF contains citations, source documentation, and supporting materials for Attkisson’s claims. Given that the book’s strength is its evidentiary base, downloading it before listening significantly enhances the experience.
How does Slanted relate to Attkisson’s previous book, The Smear?
The Smear focused on coordinated public relations campaigns designed to discredit journalists and policy opponents. Slanted shifts focus to the internal editorial culture of major news organizations and how narrative management has replaced fact-reporting. Reading The Smear first provides useful context, but Slanted stands on its own.
