Democracy under siege—and the press, too

On Wednesday afternoon, a mob of right-wing extremists and indignant livestreamers stormed the Capitol. Along their path, they left a note to the journalists who were covering the scene, a message that seemed a harrowing extension of a presidency marked by anti-press virulence: etched into a door was the phrase murder the media. It’s hard not to take that seriously—as was noted by Rachael Pacella and Paul W. Gillespie, both journalists who had survived the 2018 mass shooting at the Capital Gazette, in Annapolis, Maryland. And yet, as Masha Gessen wrote for The New Yorker, no one in charge seemed to take the mob seriously enough. The harm done to the press was alarming. All through the afternoon, reporters in Washington photographed rioters kicking, toppling, stomping, and pouring water on their equipment as they yelled “Fuck you, propaganda!” and chanted “CNN sucks.” An AP spokesperson told the New York Times that members of the crowd stole some equipment; a group appeared to be trying to burn it. One person shouted at a couple of Washington Post reporters, “How many more fucking people gotta die? All the lies you’ve told, all this time––that’s what made this happen. A lady died because of your lies!” (That was possibly a reference to Ashli Babbitt, the woman fatally shot by police during the siege.) Yesterday afternoon, the US Press Freedom Tracker said it was investigating several instances of assault, equipment damage, and other mayhem caused by the mob. Hours before... Continue reading at 'Columbia Journalism Review'

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-01-08 13:30:11 UTC ]

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Profits Up Nearly 13% At Simon & Schuster

An increase in operating efficiencies, higher backlist sales, and lower returns drove double-digit earnings increases. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2016-02-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebook sales falling for the first time, finds new report

Research by the Bookseller shows that sales for the ‘big five’ UK publishers dropped in 2015Ebook sales for the UK’s five biggest publishers fell in 2015, according to a new report in the Bookseller, collectively declining 2.4%, to 47.9m units. It is the first drop in numbers of books sold in... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2016-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Egmont, Andersen and S&S lead Branford Boase longlist

Egmont, Andersen Press and Simon & Schuster each have three books on the longlist for this year’s Branford Boase award. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Selberg pens vlogging fiction series for MCB

Ingrid Selberg, the former m.d. of Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Division, is teaming up with Emma Young to write a middle-grade fiction series about vloggers for Macmillan Children’s Books. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-02-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Playster All-Media Subscription Service Debuts in U.S.

The multi-content subscription service, in beta since 2014, has gone live. It offers tiered access to books, TV/film, music and video games, and has partnerships with such publishers as HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Portico prize winner Benjamin Myers: 'Why bother chasing the big publishers?'

After being turned down by ‘every major publisher in London’ for his Portico winning novel Beastings, the author says landing the £10,000 prize ‘felt like a vindication’ Benjamin Myers, who has beaten Alan Garner to win the £10,000 Portico prize for literature for his novel Beastings, has spoken... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-12-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Corbett leaves S&S after restructure

Simon & Schuster has restructured its marketing and publicity teams, with communications director Hannah Corbett leaving the publisher after 13 years. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Jessica Kingsley to release graphic novel on sexual harassment

Jessica Kingsley Publishers will release a graphic novel about sexual harrassment, Take it as a Compliment by Maria Stoian, under its Singing Dragon imprint tomorrow. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-11-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Declining E-Book Sales Hit Home

Softening sales for digital books have impacted the bottom lines at HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster, according to both companies' recent earnings reports. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales, Earnings Up at Simon & Schuster

Revenue at the Big Five house increased 2% in the third quarter, rising to $203 million. Bestselling adult titles in the quarter included 'The Survivor' by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills, and this year's Pulitzer Prize-winner for fiction, Anthony Doerr's 'All the Light We Cannot See.' Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-11-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Gompertz Joining Skyhorse as Editorial Director

Skyhorse Publishing has named Mark Gompertz group editorial director, effective November 9. Gompertz, who was most recently at Hearst Magazines, had a long tenure at Simon & Schuster. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-10-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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S&S nabs German star

Simon & Schuster has bought world rights (excluding Germany) in These Days of Ours, a new novel by Juliet Ashton, and will publish in June 2016. Ashton, who was previously published by Sphere in the UK, is a superstar in Germany, where she has shifted more than 100,000 copies for... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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HarperCollins signs three-book deal with Morpurgo

Michael Morpurgo has signed a three book deal with HarperCollins and the first new title will be published later this month. Eagle in the Snow, released 8th October (h/b, £12.99), was inspired by the true story of Henry Tandey, the most decorated British soldier of the First World War and the... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-10-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Up, up and away?

It may not have quite the same resonance as William Goldman’s infamous line about the movie business—“nobody knows anything”—but Carolyn’s Reidy’s comment, made at a recent Book Industry Study Group meeting held in New York, that “the more we know, the more we have to learn” is an excellent... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Donald Trump signs a book deal, and guess what? It's gonna be huge

Donald Trump has something new to brag about. The leading Republican presidential contender and self-acknowledged nonexpert on foreign policy has a new book in the pipeline that might shed some... To view the full story, click the title link. Continue reading at Crains New York

[ Crains New York | 2015-09-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Trump Signs for New Book with S&S

Simon & Schuster's Threshold Editions will publish a new, untitled book by Donald Trump October 27. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-09-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Egmont signs YouTube star Stampy Cat

Egmont has signed a book deal with Joseph Garrett, the YouTube star who posts videos about the game Minecraft as the character Stampy Cat. Garrett has signed a two-book deal and the first title, Stampy’s Lovely Book (h/b, £7.99), features comics, jokes and activities based on Stampy and his... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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How to Write a Roger Federer Think Piece

It has been a bit more than nine years since David Foster Wallace delivered “Federer as Religious Experience,” the Magna Carta of what has become one of the most popular genres in sports journalism: the Roger Federer think piece. The now-classic essay, penned for the short-lived New York Times... Continue reading at Slate

[ Slate | 2015-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Rabbit Who Wants to Fall Asleep sells to major publisher

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[ The Guardian | 2015-09-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sales Down, Profits Up at Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster posted an 8.6% increase in operating income in the second period of 2015 over the same period in 2014 while revenue fell 5.6%, to $199 million. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2015-08-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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