Merchants of Truth
Inside the News Revolution
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- £9.99
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- £9.99
Publisher Description
The gripping and definitive in-the-room account of the revolution that has swept the news industry over the last decade and reshaped our world.
The last decade has seen the News industry face unprecedented change. The sometimes-century old institutions which were once the bastions of truth have had their dominance eroded by vast innovations in viral technology and, as millennial appetites force the industry to choose between principles of objectivity and impartiality, the survivors must confront the horrifying cost of their success: sexual scandal, fake news, the election of President Trump and the shaking of democracy.
Taking us behind the scenes at four media titans - BuzzFeed, VICE, The New York Times and The Washington Post - Abramson reveals the human drama behind this shift: one involving deal-making tycoons, thrusting reporters, hard-bitten editors, egomaniacs, bullshitters, provocateurs and bullies, with some surfing and others drowning in the breaking wave of change.
'A cracking, essential read… Abramson knows where most of the bodies are buried and is prepared to draw the reader a detailed map' Guardian
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The internet killed off and resurrected journalism in unpredictable, hopeful, but corrupted ways, according to this scintillating insider's history. A former New York Times executive editor, Abramson (Strange Justice) profiles four major media companies in upheaval. Representing the dinosaurs are the New York Times and Washington Post newspapers, whose expensive, high-quality news operations faced bankruptcy a decade ago as print circulation and ad revenue shriveled. Representing online innovators are the website Buzzfeed, which pioneered "You Won't Believe What Happened Next" clickbait, and Vice, which morphed from an X-rated punk-hipster lifestyle magazine to gonzo-journalism video juggernaut. Abramson shows how the rivals learned and converged: Buzzfeed and Vice edged into award-winning prestige journalism, yet have struggled financially; the Times and Post mastered internet eyeball-grabbing strategies while amassing lucrative online subscriptions for their authoritative reporting; the price for all four, she notes, was an ethically queasy blurring of lines between paid advertising and news (the author's tense narrative of her Times editorship and controversial firing centers on this issue). Abramson's shrewd, stylishly written account includes colorful characters Vice's culture of sexual harassment featured a naked office walkabout by founder Shane Smith and savvy portraits of newsroom dynamics. The result is one of the best takes yet on journalism's changing fortunes.
