- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Press (HC) (Dec 30 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1594200009
- ISBN-13: 978-1594200007
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 612 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,534,476 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Like Auletta's earlier The Highwaymen, this is a collection of the author's work as media correspondent for the New Yorker, but the focus has shifted away from the individual toward the institutional. The book starts with a 2002 profile of then New York Times executive editor Howell Raines, depicting his attempts to redefine the paper's approach to journalism and foreshadowing his departure in the aftermath of the Jayson Blair scandal. Because of Raines's notoriety, it's an obvious choice to lead off with, but that decision affects the meta-narrative running through the book's first half. A string of articles dealing with newspapers around the country (including a look at New York's battling tabloids that didn't make it into the New Yorker because it wasn't "colorful" enough) examines the tension between editorial and business concerns, culminating in a 1993 look at the Times with open speculation about who would succeed the person who held the job before Raines and what it might mean for the newsroom. Alas, the moving profile of former Times reporter John McCandlish Phillips, who abandoned a promising career in journalism to devote himself to Christian evangelism, seems out of place amid the corporate chronicles. Yet its significance becomes clearer as subsequent pieces emphasize the growing lack of humility among contemporary journalists. Two final stories look at media startups that failed (Inside.com) and succeeded (Fox News), the latter bringing us up-to-date with the network's coverage of the war in Iraq. By putting these articles together, Auletta provides a valuable perspective on how the pressures of business have affected how we read and watch the news.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Auletta, author and respected media critic, frames his concerns about the state of modern American journalism, particularly the uneasy wedding of business interests and public service, with profiles of the major figures in the shifting landscape of journalism, including Mort Zuckerman and Rupert Murdoch. He starts with an exploration of the autocratic management style of Howell Raines, former executive editor at the New York Times, a style that contributed to the Jayson Blair plagiarism scandal. Auletta goes on to examine synergies in journalism and corporate interests--from Disney to Time Warner--that have seen a CBS executive court Private Jessica Lynch with possible book and movie offers from affiliated groups. The collection includes profiles of Roger Ailes, former Republican media consultant, chairman and CEO of Fox News, and the inspiration behind its raucous right-leaning posture, and John McClandis Phillips, esteemed New York Times reporter, who viewed his job at the paper as a religious mission and who left a 21-year career to pursue evangelism. Auletta offers cogent analyses of the internal and external pressures reshaping American journalism. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Well worth your time,
By
This review is from: Backstory (Hardcover)
Auletta is one of the best thoughtful, dare I say, "fair and balanced" writers of media criticism out there. I can't see how very many people could argue with his findings, even if it casts them in a bad light, they are well documented and sourced. Media has been and is in a state of flux if not outright crisis since the late '90s, and though Auletta may not have a crystal ball, he is better than most at reading a map.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pathetic Snickering,
By A Customer
This review is from: Backstory (Hardcover)
If you are who the other one says you are, I'd beg YOU BOTH to remember that you're fortunate to EVEN HAVE BOOKS PUBLISHED. For every two of you, there are thousands of others who put their hearts and souls into their writing and never make a dime. Get some perspective and grow up!
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent read! Gets you the inside story!,
By
This review is from: Backstory (Hardcover)
I saw a story about this book on PBS and was intrigued to read it. It was worth it! It lets you know the true inside story about the media and the problems they have critizing their stories enough.
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