The Murdoch Method by Irwin Stelzer review – has Rupert Murdoch lost his touch?

A finely balanced assessment of the media mogul’s sprawling empire – written by his right-hand manLike him or loathe him, Rupert Murdoch remains one of the world’s most fascinating characters. He is the subject of more than a dozen biographies and is the central figure in at least a score of other books, most of which are highly critical and suffer from their authors having little or no personal knowledge of the man. The Murdoch Method should therefore be viewed as a book apart, because Irwin Stelzer spent the best part of 30 years in close contact with the media mogul.It is tempting to deride Murdoch’s current status by inserting “old” before both the words “media” and “mogul”. But at 87, he continues to exert influence through his chairmanship of two giant companies, News Corp, the newspaper and book publishing conglomerate, and 21st Century Fox, the sprawling film and TV entertainments group. While building them, Murdoch has generated continual controversy. Among the charges are business ruthlessness, political meddling, editorial interference, hostility to regulation and cultural vandalism. Nor should we overlook the UK scandal of phone-hacking at the News of the World, which led to the paper’s closure, and the US scandal of sexual impropriety at Fox News, which led to its chief executive being ousted and the subsequent firing of one of its main presenters. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2018-08-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #sexual impropriety #subsequent firing

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New York Review of Books editor Ian Buruma departs amid outrage over essay

Writer and academic steps down after publishing and defending Jian Ghomeshi piece deemed to be at odds with spirit of #MeTooIan Buruma, the writer and academic, has stepped down from the editorship of the New York Review of Books after only 16 months, after he caused outrage by publishing and... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-09-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #york review #robert silvers ##metoo


Under the Wire review – fearsome account of war reporting in Syria

War photographer Paul Conroy is magnetic as he untangles the nuances of his profession in this screen version of his memoirChristopher Martin’s film is an urgent documentary version of Under the Fire, the memoir published by war photographer Paul Conroy about his friendship and professional... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-09-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #memoir published #professional partnership #killing fields #assad regime #brand identity #drawing attention


Attorney general announces review of social media platforms following Capitol Hill hearing

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill questioned top executives at Facebook and Twitter on Wednesday about their companies’ ability to thwart foreign interference, and hinted that industry regulations may be coming. The “size and reach of your platforms demand that we, as policy-makers, do our job, to ensure... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-09-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Breaking News by Alan Rusbridger review – the remaking of journalism and why it matters now

The former Guardian editor details a revolution in journalism. Can it still perform its vital, truth-telling role?Truth is a small word liable to sanctimonious overuse and philosophical dispute, but in its humblest sense of accurate and verifiable information we like to think we know it when we... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #edward snowden #rupert murdoch #online publishing #global brand


John McCain, the GOP's lost conscience

Writers for the Los Angeles Times' Opinion section weigh in on the outpouring of grief and tributes to John McCain, and how they put into sharper focus President Trump's behavior. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-09-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #john mccain


Lost in the Russia scandal maze? Read your way out.

Journalistic books delving into President Trump's relationship with Moscow are two a penny. To better understand the Russia scandal, try reading books that explore Russian history. Or 'Crime and Punishment.' Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor

[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2018-08-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #president trump #reading books


Kelley's 'long lost classic' scooped by Quercus after seven-way auction

Quercus has given all staff the day off to read William Melville Kelley's "important and impactful" novel A Different Drummer, recently acquired by the publisher in a seven-way auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #recently acquired


Omarosa Manigault Newman's book meets harsh reviews

Reality television star and former White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman’s "Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House" finally hit bookstore shelves on Tuesday, and judging by critics’ reactions, they’re not here to make friends. In the book, Manigault Newman claims that she... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #make friends


Crowdfunding campaigns for The Lost Words reach 15

The number of crowdfunding campaigns to buy copies of Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris' nature anthology, The Lost Words, has now reached 15, with new campaigns in Powys, Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-08-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #buy copies #robert macfarlane #jackie morris #lost words


Review: Joe Cole excels in brutal prison fight drama ‘A Prayer Before Dawn’

In “A Prayer Before Dawn,” director Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire and screenwriters Jonathan Hirschbein and Nick Saltrese (adapting the memoir by Billy Moore) effectively eschew narrative convention to tell this harrowing story of a meth-addicted Brit scraping by in Bangkok as an underground boxer who’s... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Books: Theodore Sturgeon's overlooked centenary plus reviews and book news

Hello I’m books editor Carolyn Kellogg with our Books newsletter this week. THE BIG STORY This year is Theodore Sturgeon’s centenary, and if you’re wondering “who?,” you’re not alone. Once widely read (and still beloved in some science fiction communities, as a few on Twitter pointed out to me)... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #books newsletter #book news #big story #widely read


Review: Lovers on the run in dull, campy crime thriller ‘Devil's Cove’

It’s “Thelma and Louise” on meth in the soapy, low-budget B-movie “Devil’s Cove,” directed by Erik Lundmark and written by Chloe Traicos, who stars as black widow murderess Jackie McGann. The story opens with the murder of Rick Duval (Cameron Barnes), and then winds its way backward and forward... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Review: Amandla Stenberg leads the charge in the been-there, done-that dystopia of ‘The Darkest Minds’

You’ve seen this future before. “The Darkest Minds” is the latest YA dystopian book series to get the Hollywood treatment, and it’s reached the point where there’s barely any effort to hide or tweak the commonalities: teens led by a charismatic unsung hero, superpowers, holding facilities, hunts,... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-08-02 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ctrl Alt Delete: How Politics and the Media Crashed Our Democracy – review

Tom Baldwin’s account of the abusive relationship with the truth in media and politics is lucid, punchy and often funnyLet’s begin with the parable of the triple-breasted woman. A couple of years in advance of Donald Trump’s arrival at the White House and before the term “fake news” had caught... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-07-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #waste time #elizabeth denham #data breaches


CUP bookshop 'transformed' with touch screens

The Cambridge University Press bookshop has been "transformed" with touch screens placing its catalogue of books and teaching materials “at people’s fingertips”. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #teaching materials


Book Review: Behold, America: A History of America First and the American Dream, by Sarah Churchwell

In the late summer of 1941, as millions of Americans were debating whether to become involved in the war against Hitler, the journalist Dorothy Thompson wrote a celebrated essay for Harper's magazine. The title was Who Goes Nazi?, and Thompson explained that she had devised "a somewhat macabre... Continue reading at Stuff

[ Stuff | 2018-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book review #american dream #sarah churchwell #late summer


Books: A teen reviews '#Neveragain,' a World War II tragedy comes to life and more book news

Welcome to the Books newsletter! I’m books editor Carolyn Kellogg, writing my last newsletter from our Spring Street address — next Friday we’ll be packing up for our new digs in El Segundo. THE BIG STORY When I saw that Parkland, Fla., shooting survivors David Hogg and his sister Lauren Hogg had... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #books newsletter ##neveragain #book news #el segundo #big story


The Lost Words becomes first children's book shortlisted for Wainwright Prize

The Lost Words (Hamish Hamilton) has become the first children’s book to be shortlisted for the £5,000 Wainwright Golden Beer Book Prize for nature writing. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #lost words #wainwright prize #nature writing


Review: Boots Riley's 'Sorry to Bother You' is an arrestingly surreal satire on class rage and cultural identity

The title treatment for “Sorry to Bother You,” Boots Riley’s joyous dystopian cackle of a directing debut, has more personality than most movies. Designed by the children’s book illustrator J. Otto Seibold in a blocky original font — let’s call it “Dinosaur Tetris” — it conquers the screen in big... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2018-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #boots riley #cultural identity #book illustrator


W&N scoops Faber Academy graduate's 'touching' Japanese debut

W&N has acquired Faber Academy graduate Stephanie Scott's Tokyo-set debut, The Sentence. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2018-07-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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