Merchants of Truth by Jill Abramson review – journalism’s troubles

A former editor of the New York Times takes an unsparing look at the decline of US journalismThis book about the commercial takeover of the news business is sure to make a lot of powerful people very angry. Jill Abramson takes an unsparing look at US journalism’s moral decline; as former executive editor of the New York Times, she is someone who knows where most of the bodies are buried and is prepared to draw the reader a detailed map. Names are named, mistakes are exposed, and the writing is unforgiving and unadorned, as befits a woman with “balls like iron cantaloupes”, as one veteran journalist tells her. It is a cracking read, and a complicated one, flawed in many places yet absorbing in its frank desire to hold journalism to account for becoming overly willing to sell out to advertisers and thereby endangering its own future.Abramson compares four media organisations: the New York Times; its longtime rival the Washington Post; BuzzFeed; and Vice. These last two digital media companies, born of early viral content and gonzo reporting, are often the madcap foils to the gravitas of the Times and Post – though by the end it’s clear that all four are closer to each other than they may think. In fact, both the digital and traditional publications have shown great adaptability; BuzzFeed and Vice have unquestionably succeeded, in a short time, in producing compelling journalism, even in Abramson’s telling. As well as a Pulitzer nomination, both have won highly respected... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2019-01-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #media organisations #longtime rival

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Merchants of Truth by Jill Abramson review – journalism’s troubles'


Book Review: ‘War,’ by Margaret MacMillan

In “War: How Conflict Shaped Us,” Margaret MacMillan examines the impact of war, both bad and good. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-10-06 09:00:08 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #conflict shaped #macmillan


Can’t Handle the Truth

An author remains frustrated that publishers favor fictionalized stories over true accounts. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-10-02 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Headline Review scoops Freya Berry's 'electrifying' debut at auction

Headline Review will publish Freya Berry's debut novel, The Dictator’s Wife, as a lead hardback launch in 2022. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-10-01 22:16:14 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #headline review #hardback


American faces prison in Thailand over bad hotel review

Wesley Barnes sued by resort owner after posting negative comments on TripadvisorAn American man is facing two years in prison in Thailand after posting negative online reviews of a hotel resort.The Sea View Resort in Koh Chang accused Wesley Barnes of “a slanderous campaign” over the reviews,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2020-09-29 12:25:01 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Troubled Blood strikes twice atop the bestseller charts

Robert Galbraith's Troubled Blood (Sphere) has spent a second week in the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 25,428 copies in its first full week on sale. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-28 22:57:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #full week #bestseller charts #robert galbraith


How Was ‘Mein Kampf’ Handled in The Book Review in 1943?

In a recent issue dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, The Book Review resurfaced its 1943 critique of Hitler’s political manifesto. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2020-09-24 20:17:48 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #mein kampf #75th anniversary #book review


Apparently, the White House turned the routine review process for Bolton’s book into a huge mess.

When John Bolton was preparing to publish The Room Where It Happened, his memoir of serving in the Trump White House, he and his legal team took the routine step of submitting it for review at the National Security Council. It was Ellen Knight’s job to oversee that process, as she had done... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-09-23 20:07:06 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #john bolton #legal team #memoir


Review: Mariah Carey's memoir is her best performance yet

'The Meaning of Mariah Carey,' the pop star's tell-some memoir, sparkles and entertains and explains its subject, despite a few too many I-don't-know-hers. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-09-23 15:38:47 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #mariah carey #pop star #memoir


NSC Official Details a Politically Tainted Review Process for Bolton Memoir

In a bombshell letter filed with the court this week, attorneys for the National Security Council official who led the prepublication review of John Bolton’s bestselling memoir 'The Room Where It Happened' confirmed the official's position that the book was cleared of classified information... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-23 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bolton memoir #john bolton #bestselling memoir #classified information #political appointees #memoir


Troubled Blood strikes the charts top spot

Robert Galbraith's fifth Cormoran Strike title, Troubled Blood (Sphere), has gone straight to the UK Official Top 50 number one spot, selling 64,633 copies in its first week on sale. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-22 21:59:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #robert galbraith


Amazon Charts: Troubled Blood surges to number one spot

Robert Galbraith's Troubled Blood (Sphere) and Brian Masters' Dennis Nielsen biography Killing for Company (Cornerstone) have rocketed to the top of the Amazon Charts. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-22 15:55:56 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #amazon charts #robert galbraith #company cornerstone #nielsen


J.K. Rowling’s ‘Troubled Blood’ is her most ambitious Robert Galbraith novel yet — and likely the most divisive

The thriller once again features Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott, but also a cross-dressing serial killer who has irked some critics. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-09-17 05:40:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #troubled blood


A chilling memoir of troubled parents

Even when the ice recedes, writes Vicki Laveau-Harvie, it still shapes the landscape Continue reading at The Economist

[ The Economist | 2020-09-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #chilling memoir #troubled parents #ice recedes #memoir


A chilling memoir of troubled parents

Even when the ice recedes, writes Vicki Laveau-Harvie, it still shapes the landscape Continue reading at The Economist

[ The Economist | 2020-09-10 14:56:44 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #chilling memoir #troubled parents #ice recedes #memoir


Truth Itself Becomes Suspicious: On Rob Brotherton’s “Bad News: Why We Fall for Fake News”

IN 1889, the science fiction writer Jules Verne and his son, Michel, envisioned that, in a thousand years, there would be a personally curated newsfeed. What’s really remarkable about that futuristic prediction, says author Rob Brotherton in his new book, Bad News: Why We Fall for Fake News, is... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-09-05 17:00:41 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #science fiction


'PW' Announces New Nonfiction Reviews Editor, Writer-at-Large

Harmony Difo joins 'Publishers Weekly' as nonfiction reviews editor, replacing Mark Rotella, who left the magazine earlier this summer. Zoe Christen Jones has been hired in a newly created writer-at-large position, which includes a new magazine column on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the... Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2020-09-03 04:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book business


London Review Bookshop's Screen at Home series returns

The London Review Bookshop has partnered with the MUBI streaming service for the broadcast of eight films to be accompanied by fortnightly conversations with writers.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-09-01 17:23:15 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #bookshop


A frustrating search for the truth about America’s biological warfare

Nicholson Baker recounts his attempts at research using the Freedom of Information Act. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-08-28 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |


Forty per cent of western academics overloaded by peer review requests, finds IOP

More than 40% of UK, German and US reviewers feel overloaded by peer review requests, far more than in most other parts of the world, according to a study by IOP Publishing. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-08-28 09:43:50 UTC ]
More news stories like this |