Merchants of Truth

The Business of News and the Fight for Facts

By: Jill Abramson

Narrated by: January LaVoy

Former executive editor of The New York Times and one of our most eminent journalists Jill Abramson provides a “valuable and insightful” (The Boston Globe) report on the disruption of the news media over the last decade, as shown via two legacy (The New York Times and The Washington Post) and two upstart (BuzzFeed and VICE) companies as they plow through a revolution that pits old vs. new media.

“A marvelous book” (The New York Times Book Review), Merchants of Truth is the groundbreaking and gripping story of the precarious state of the news business.

The new digital reality nearly kills two venerable newspapers with an aging readership while creating two media behemoths with a ballooning and fickle audience of millennials. “Abramson provides this deeply reported insider account of an industry fighting for survival. With a keen eye for detail and a willingness to interrogate her own profession, Abramson takes readers into the newsrooms and boardrooms of the legacy newspapers and the digital upstarts that seek to challenge their dominance” (Vanity Fair). We get to know the defenders of the legacy presses as well as the outsized characters who are creating the new speed-driven media competitors. The players include Jeff Bezos and Marty Baron (The Washington Post), Arthur Sulzberger and Dean Baquet (The New York Times), Jonah Peretti (BuzzFeed), and Shane Smith (VICE) as well as their reporters and anxious readers.

Merchants of Truth raises crucial questions that concern the well-being of our society. We are facing a crisis in trust that threatens the free press. “One of the best takes yet on journalism’s changing fortunes” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Abramson’s book points us to the future.

Writing at its finest

Whilst the book might be marred by accusations of plagiarism, don’t let that deter you from Abramson’s brilliant reporting, writing and analysis.

Enlightening with a grain of salt.

I just finished listening to Merchants Of Truth by @JillAbramson, a deep dive into the media industry in America, the transition from print to digital and the Trump era of media.

Despite dripping liberal bias, it's an enlightening insight into NYTimes, Washpo, Vice & Buzzfeed.

Good story if read with NYTimes bias filter

The reader and tempo was very good. A good read for someone interested in the mechanics and 21st century transformation of the print news business. Best listen to with a NYTimes progressive bias filter. The story is focus on progressive or liberal papers and make like mention of the conservative print media. Best take away was how much the news now incorporates and hidden advertising. Worth the read.

Important discussion of news transformation

The author, former Exécutive Editor of the New York Times, gives readers an inside look at the transformation of the NYTIMES and Washington Post from print newspapers to digital behemoths by juxtaposing their stories against the rise of Vice and BuzzFeed. She focuses on the struggles to maintain journalistic integrity while competing for digital revenue streams. It provides an informative deep dive into power struggles, personalities and competing agendas at these media giants and offers sobering reflections on the effects of commerce on the information each of us consumes daily.

Exhaustive collection of notes

Story -
The flow reveals that the author assembled notes over a period of years, and then arranged in an order that makes sense. The author knows the field, and others who share this knowledge set will have an easier listen unlike me.

Performance -
The narrator start to finish uttered declarative phrases with rising intonation (uptalk). This style often created ambiguity of the author's intended meanings.

Overall -
There's a lot to learn. I think it's a difficult book to listen to, and I'm torn between wanting to learn the material and being willing to use a credit on this book.