You’ve seen it all before. A malicious online rumor costs a company millions. A political sideshow derails the national news cycle and destroys a candidate. Some product or celebrity zooms from total obscurity to viral sensation. What you don’t know is that someone is responsible for all this. Usually, a media manipulator like Ryan Holiday. In a world where blogs control and distort the news, his job is to control blogs—as much as any one person can. In today’s culture…

• Blogs like Gawker, Buzzfeed and The Huffington Post drive the media agenda.
• Bloggers are slaves to money, technology, and deadlines.
• Manipulators wield these levers to shape everything you read, see and watch—online and off.

Why did Holiday give away his secrets? Because he’s tired of a world where blogs take indirect bribes, marketers help write the news, reckless journalists spread lies, and no one is accountable for any of it. Holiday explains exactly how the media really works. What you choose to do with the information is up to you.