The Smear

How Shady Political Operatives and Fake News Control What You See, What You Think, and How You Vote

By: Sharyl Attkisson

Narrated by: Sharyl Attkisson

Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Ever wonder how politics turned into a take-no-prisoners blood sport? The New York Times best-selling author of Stonewalled pulls back the curtain on the shady world of opposition research and reveals the dirty tricks those in power use to influence your opinions.

Behind most major political stories in the modern era, there is an agenda - an effort by opposition researchers, spin doctors, and outside interests to destroy an idea or a person. The tactic they use is the Smear. Every day, Americans are influenced by the Smear without knowing it. Paid forces cleverly shape virtually every image you cross. Maybe you read that Donald Trump is a racist misogynist or saw someone on the news mocking the Bernie Sanders campaign. The trick of the Smear is that it is often based on some shred of truth, but these media-driven "hit pieces" are designed to obscure the truth. Success hinges on the Smear artist's ability to remain invisible, to make it seem as if their work is neither calculated nor scripted. It must appear to be precisely what it is not.

Veteran journalist Sharyl Attkisson has witnessed this practice firsthand. After years of being pitched hit jobs and puff pieces, she's an expert at detecting Smear campaigns. Now, the hard-hitting investigative reporter shares her inside knowledge, revealing how the Smear takes shape and who its perpetrators are - including Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal and, most influential of all, "right-wing assassin turned left-wing assassin" (National Review) political operative David Brock and his Media Matters for America empire.

Attkisson exposes the diabolical tactics of Smear artists and their outrageous access to the biggest names in political media - operatives who are corrupting the political process and discouraging widespread citizen involvement in our democracy.

©2017 Sharyl Attkisson (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers

Just as I suspected

If you could sum up The Smear in three words, what would they be?

Confirmed my Suspicions

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Smear?

David Brocks dominance and collusion of and with the fake news sites like CNN

What does Sharyl Attkisson bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I trusted her words

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Money can buy reporters, editors and anchors to perpetuate whatever liberal narrative and smear you want to put forward,

Any additional comments?

I saw the Hillary campaign and friends try to make me doubt what I saw and heard during the campaign. Their antics and bubble blindness steered me to Trump and away from Hillary,
Excellent Book and hopefully We get a Part 2 Update highlighting CNN's and the rest of the Liberal Media fall from grace.

I'm shocked that I can still be this surprised

When I first began listening to this book, I found it compelling, but slightly depressing. The delivery was good, the arguments were logically argued and researched, but at first it wasn't terribly surprising (even if it WAS a terrible situation). But then as the book progressed, and the level of intimacy between most of the media, and operatives of one of the political parties was exposed, I was shocked at the extent of it. Again - not the presence of it per se - but the extent. That reporters who hound one political party were sucking up to members of the other major party were doing so to a naked extent that I simply was surprised by.

The banal back and forth of transactional journalism, as revealed by the WikiLeaks emails, was eye opening, and revealed how it wasn't a grand scandal or something that they felt they needed to hide very much, but merely was accepted as the normal part of how they conduct their daily work.

Most on the political Right will listen and think "see, I knew it!" And they are correct, but they would be wrong to take comfort that their candidates are any better. What comes across is that the Republicans envy the Democratic smear machinery, and wish they could be even half as effective at destroying enemies as Media Matters is.

Nobody has the high ground here morally. But it is enlightening and very encouraging to see that this sense of unfairness in the media isn't just a figment of one's imagination, or perhaps driven by one's own bias. It IS real. Extremely real. And this book exposes that fact.

A must read

Want to know how America was tricked into where we are now? Read this Book. One of the few factual books on the market.

A must read for every Conservative

Wow! This book was awesome. Every Republican politician should read it. Cheryl Atkinson discusses so many things that affect the News cycles.

so true

This book exposes the truth about our biased media. Great book and. is very credible.

Great book with a lot of fact based insight!

Initially I was suspect of the book, and apprehensive to buy because one of my biggest pet peeves is when people tout their own books and advertise them when I usually expect to hear the normal perspective I have grown to respect. I was wrong, to have waited. Sharyl Attkisson does a great job conveying a fact based narrative of The Smear. What becomes a smear, how it starts, who initiates it, and how it can go viral. Her account of the 2016 Presidential campaign season and the months shortly after the election are truthful and well explained.

Eye-opening. straight down the middle. This is a must read.

I read at least one book per month. This is the most important, paradigm changing book I have read in a very long time. This helps me make sense of the political discourse over the last couple of years. This is written not for me liberal know were conservative point of view, but shows how both sides are guilty of creating in shaping stories to fit the political agenda. Enjoy!

Eye opening & informative; A shameful media!

Sharyl Attkisson is truly a fair and credible investigative reporter. Thank you for exposing the dark side of politics and the media. Loved the book! I recommend it to anyone who dare to be an independent thinker. Politicians have failed us for years, now the fake news media have found the source to drink the same "kool aid."

Exceptional book could not stop listening

Enlightening. Cheryl is a real investegative journalist. very refreshing after watching the Fake News Broadcast and Cacle channels.

How a Corrupt Media Control What You See.

Sheryl Attkisson is a highly credible and brilliant political journalist. She dissects the inner workings of Fake News during the 2016 National Elections and reveals why we can no longer trust our once revered media giants, i.e. ABC NEWS, CBS, NBC, CNN or the New York Times.