In Ryan Holiday’s book, Trust Me, I’m Lying, he unveils current journalism’s actual world and its intersection with the online blogging community.

Ryan Holiday is the former marketing director for American Apparel and editor-at-large for the New York Observer, having become noted after organizing controversial media stunts for client publicity.

Most people would believe their online news to be trustworthy at the surface when, in reality, we see the influence of manipulation at play more often than majorly realized. The whisperings of smaller blogs influence larger blogs, publicists feed information to marketers who write news instead of journalists, and bribes are taken every day.

When Ryan Holiday speaks of “blogs,” he’s talking about digital publishing on the whole, from publications like the Huffington Post to local news websites — all responsible for creating the narrative people absorb continually.

A Personal Responsibility to Produce Honest Content

After reading Trust Me, I’m Lying, I was also reminded of the importance of the blogging and news-source community, taking to heart the tenants of professional journalism; honesty, checking sources, remain objective, and fairly report. Publishing honest, verified content will build more trust with the public in general — a collective responsibility for bloggers, writers, and webmasters everywhere.

Even when a blog is small, and content is produced for a small number of people, a high level of integrity should still permeate your work.

If it isn’t true, don’t share it.

How Do We Protect Ourselves In the Future?

Ever-important in today’s world is for consumers to become more aware and accustomed to incorrect or false information and doing due-diligence to ensure sources of news and information are trustworthy.

We must forcibly and confidently pull back the curtain and not be afraid to shine a light on what we see.

In Trust Me, I’m Lying, we’re reminded by Ryan Holiday to hold media accountable so that we move forward to a more truthful future.