Saturday, October 22, 2022

Five top books about journalism

Margaret Sullivan is an award-winning media critic and a groundbreaking journalist. She was the first woman appointed as public editor of the New York Times and went on to the Washington Post as media columnist. She started her career as a summer intern at her hometown Buffalo News and rose to be that paper's first woman editor-in-chief.

Of Sullivan's new book, Newsroom Confidential: Lessons (and Worries) from an Ink-Stained Life, Molly Jong-Fast wrote: “It's rare that a respected critic writes a dishy, fun book that also packs an important message, but when she does, it's a must-read.” Steve Coll called Sullivan "the critic American journalism requires."

At Lit Hub Sullivan tagged five favorite books about journalism. One title on the list:
Victor Pickard, Democracy Without Journalism?: Confronting the Misinformation Society

Written by a University of Pennsylvania media studies professor, this whip-smart 2019 book is a searing examination of how our broken media system is harming America. It not only lays out the deep problems but presents ways to begin fixing them.
Read about another entry on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue