Monday, 12 January 2004
The business of journalism - THE COMMENTARY
By Joseph Planta
VANCOUVER - When CBS News correspondent and Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer relented to publish a book of his commentaries from his broadcasts, he approached the famed literary agent Esther Newberg. Newberg informed him that journalism collections are hardly bestsellers, and that he was advised to write a memoir instead. Schieffer did just that, and This Just In was one of last year's bestsellers. It's odd therefore, that another Newberg client, Ken Auletta, the "Annals of Communication" columnist for The New Yorker would come out with his own collection of past work. Well, it isn't that odd considering that it is a distinguished collection of 11 pieces, most of which are taken from previous New Yorker work.
Backstory: Inside the Business of News culls together Auletta's previously written pieces about some of the institutions which past and present dominate the business of journalism. Only one has previously not been published, but the other ten, which appeared in The New Yorker, are written in that magazine's unmistakable format. Auletta inherits the legacy of famed writers who wrote in that New Journalism fashion, where fiction techniques were employed in the recounting of non-fiction. Lillian Ross, Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe and Norman Mailer, among others, are those that Auletta follows. These 11 pieces in Backstory are often long. They do not however fail to inform, sometimes entertain, and always - thanks to great aptitude - take you into the worlds he uncovers.
From the vaulted and venerable New York Times to the boom and bust of Inside.com, to a look at Don Imus, Backstory is an immensely valuable source containing both a chronicle of the media business, past and present, as well as analysis rooted in years of observation. Backstory also has pieces looking at New York's tabloid war between the New York Daily News and the New York Post, as well as an extensive piece entitled "Synergy City," which looks at the Tribune Company's melding of print and electronic media.
Just after an introduction where he decries the growing corporate influence in news, where the drive for profits often influences journalism, there is a lengthy reprint of his 2002 piece about the then newly installed New York Times editor Howell Raines. Appended to it is a timely analysis of the fallout had following Raines's spectacular tenure, which ended with Raines's resignation following the Jayson Blair scandal. They often say that journalism is the first draft of history. That would make Auletta the communications business's chief chronicler, right on the frontline composing lengthy pieces that probably would not be published anywhere but The New Yorker.
Despite the plethora of media outlets - those on cable as well as network broadcasts, not to mention the gazillions on the internet - media observers like Auletta are necessary. Howard Kurtz in the Washington Post does a good job, as do the New York gossipmongers: Page Six, Rush and Molloy, Cindy Adams, Liz Smith and Lloyd Grove. But what they don't have, which Auletta does, is the latitude to delve into a subject with gusto, not to mention authority, and of course the vast real estate endowed by the editors at the New Yorker. Sometimes an Auletta piece can go past the 20,000-word mark.
Do "business pressures" - the desire to pump the bottom line - invariably hurt journalism? Auletta thinks so. Downsizing hits local bureaus and international bureaus. More and more the consumer is left with fewer sources, thanks to sacrificing made in the name of synergy, or in this country that buzz word: convergence.
In his introduction, Auletta says the acorn of good journalism is humility. Criticism keeps journalists, like politicians humble. Because journalists tell the citizenry what to believe is important, Ken Auletta plays a significant part in keeping the media business's feet to the fire. Backstory: Inside the Business of News, exposes and educates the consumer about that which the media contends with day in and day out. Where this book is a précis of the industry, it is also a reminder that no matter how much saturation and salaciousness is associated with outfits like FOX News or CNN, journalism is still a noble calling.
Backstory: Inside the Business of News (ISBN: 1594200009) by Ken Auletta, published by Penguin is $37.95 CDN ($24.95 USD).
- 30 -
Questions and comments may be sent to: editor@thecommentary.ca
An archive of Joseph Planta's previous columns can be found by clicking HERE .