Backstory: Inside the Business of News (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "A MAN WHO TAKES the subway wearing the white panama hat of a plantation owner is either blithely arrogant or irrepressibly self-confident, and in the..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Fox News, York Times (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like Auletta's earlier The Highwaymen, this is a collection of the author's work as media correspondent for the New Yorker, but the focus has shifted away from the individual toward the institutional. The book starts with a 2002 profile of then New York Times executive editor Howell Raines, depicting his attempts to redefine the paper's approach to journalism and foreshadowing his departure in the aftermath of the Jayson Blair scandal. Because of Raines's notoriety, it's an obvious choice to lead off with, but that decision affects the meta-narrative running through the book's first half. A string of articles dealing with newspapers around the country (including a look at New York's battling tabloids that didn't make it into the New Yorker because it wasn't "colorful" enough) examines the tension between editorial and business concerns, culminating in a 1993 look at the Times with open speculation about who would succeed the person who held the job before Raines and what it might mean for the newsroom. Alas, the moving profile of former Times reporter John McCandlish Phillips, who abandoned a promising career in journalism to devote himself to Christian evangelism, seems out of place amid the corporate chronicles. Yet its significance becomes clearer as subsequent pieces emphasize the growing lack of humility among contemporary journalists. Two final stories look at media startups that failed (Inside.com) and succeeded (Fox News), the latter bringing us up-to-date with the network's coverage of the war in Iraq. By putting these articles together, Auletta provides a valuable perspective on how the pressures of business have affected how we read and watch the news.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Auletta, whose previous books include Greed and Glory on Wall Street and World War 3.0, is concerned about how the publishing industry affects the practice of journalism, in theory not beholden to profits and losses. Most critics agree that Backstory is a provocative if uneven collection that shows a serious understanding of the trade. Auletta's best pieces examine controversial figures such as Raines and Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes. His less successful ones delve into the grisly (and possibly soporific) details of the business and meander off into unrelated topics. (One interesting but irrelevant article features a reporter who abandoned journalism for religion.) Still, this is Journalism 101 straight from the horse's mouth, with a small (very small) silver lining: if you become a journalist, you might also become famous.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The; 1st hardback/1st Printing edition (December 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594200009
• ISBN-13: 978-1594200007
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,316,706 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars insightful collection of articles, January 6, 2004

By	Pammy (NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

Insightful collection of articles which explores the state of journalism by focusing on individual newspapers and news companies. Most of these articles have been published over the years in the New Yorker, but the collection gives a perceptive overview of the journalistic world that so influences public perceptions of world events.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Compelling Analysis of Contemporary News Media, August 17, 2004

By	Robert Morris (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Frequent readers of The New Yorker are already familiar with Auletta's brilliant essays on the news media. What we have here in this volume are several of his best, all but one of which previously appeared in that magazine. Specific subjects include the Howell Raines "doctrine" during his tenure at the New York Times, Mark H. Willes' major reorganization of that newspaper, initiatives within the Tribune Company to achieve organizational synergies, the "tabloid wars" waged by the New York Daily News and the New York Post, Arthur M. Sulzberger, Jr.'s "Outward Bound Adventure" at the New York Times, a profile of John McCandlish Phillips, Jr. ("the reporter who disappeared"), an explanation of how and why "fee speech" could corrupt "journalism's claim to public trust," a profile of Don Imus, an examination of the life and death of Inside.com, and an analysis of the creation, emergence, and impact of Fox News.

However, Auletta's primary objective is to answer questions such as these:

1. What is the proper role of the news media?
2. How has that role changed during the last decade? Why?
3. What are the nature and extent of the impact of business considerations on the selection, articulation, and provision of news?

Auletta's thinking and writing have exceptional rigor, focus, and clarity. Yes, we learn a great deal about the individuals and organizations on which he focuses in this volume but its much greater value (to me) is derived from his thoughtful and eloquent responses to the questions posed earlier.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Get Me Rewrite!, February 3, 2005

By	Bradley F. Smith (tampa, fl) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Backstory: Inside the Business of News (Paperback)

This collection of articles, most originally published in The New Yorker, paint an interesting inside look at some of the more powerful big media players. Unfortunately, most of the material is outdated, having been superceded by events such as Tribune Co.'s acquisition of Times-Mirror, the forced resignation of Howell Raines at the New York Times after the Jason Blair scandal and the emergence of Fox as a one-sided cable news operation no longer bothering to masquerade as objective. Auletta stitches the pieces together with a few short paragraphs between each one, attempting to bring the reader up to date. Had he taken more than the few minutes of time which writing that material must have consumed and attempted to revise his old articles a bit more, the worth of his collection might have been improved. As it stands, it's already a period piece.