Jill Abramson -- who worked for three years (2011-14) as executive editor of The New York Times, has now written a book, Merchants of Truth, about the changes in the news business in the last decade, one that offers important context to some of the headline political events of our day.
I'll discuss the major contentions of the book in this post, then the controversy around it (especially over plagiarism) in the next.
To be blunt, the major contentions are two. The first is that some of the website-only news sources, like Vice News, may seem like the way of the future, but have inherent crippling weaknesses. The second is that some of the traditional print-media news sources, like her old employer or its rival, the Washington Post, may seem antiquated but in fact they are renewing themselves in valuable ways.
Abramson’s book has much to say about Jeff Bezos, though it was published in advance of the two most recent Bezos-related news stories: his blowing the whistle on some nasty extortion on the one hand, and his withdrawal of the offer to site an Amazon HQ in New York City on the other. Bezos is in this book because he bought the Washington Post in 2013.
Abramson believes that Bezos’ influence there has been positive, that he has helped that old-line newspaper adapt to the digital age. She writes that for a long time the Post kept a famous front page from 1974, the “Nixon Resigns” page, prominently displayed in its editorial office. But, she says, Bezos’ new regime has removed that, and the walls of that office are now dominated by “flat-screens displaying real-time traffic statistics on how many readers [are] looking at each story.” This change in decor serves as a symbol for her of a turning away from past glories toward the tackling of today’s challenges.
Her book portrays President Donald Trump as having served as a catalyst for the revival of The New York Times and of old-line “mainstream” journalism in general. The Times in particular has learned not to be shy about its partisanship, to call out the President and to say that he has lied when in fact he has lied. That has been healthy she believes.
Abramson believes that Bezos’ influence there has been positive, that he has helped that old-line newspaper adapt to the digital age. She writes that for a long time the Post kept a famous front page from 1974, the “Nixon Resigns” page, prominently displayed in its editorial office. But, she says, Bezos’ new regime has removed that, and the walls of that office are now dominated by “flat-screens displaying real-time traffic statistics on how many readers [are] looking at each story.” This change in decor serves as a symbol for her of a turning away from past glories toward the tackling of today’s challenges.
Her book portrays President Donald Trump as having served as a catalyst for the revival of The New York Times and of old-line “mainstream” journalism in general. The Times in particular has learned not to be shy about its partisanship, to call out the President and to say that he has lied when in fact he has lied. That has been healthy she believes.
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