Synopsis
A look at how the owners of American newspapers have sacrificed journalistic ideals for profit shows how journalism has become the province of large corporations that care more about private profit than about public debate. 20,000 first printing.
Reviews
Squires got his start in journalism as a reporter at the Nashville Tennessean in 1962, idealistic and convinced that the press had a unique mission of providing enlightenment and thereby improving democracy. He rose in his profession, serving as the editor of the Chicago Tribune from 1981 to 1989. In this lively, if sobering, memoir, he examines what he considers the steady decline in the quality of American print journalism in the past 30 years, attributing this to the growth of the "ethically bankrupt" concept that public service must be subsumed to cost control, return on assets and the courting of customers for advertisers. The situation, according to Squires, could worsen, but he sees some hope that the success of CNN in attracting large audiences and advertisers will have an impact on newspaper publishers and in the various charitable trusts set up by journalistic tycoons of the past. Media people should read this significant book. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Squires was the media spokesman for the first part of Ross Perot's bid for the presidency. But for nearly 30 years until late 1989, he was on the other side of the fence, including editorships of the Chicago Tribune and the Orlando Sentinel. Ultimately, this is the story of why he's no longer an editor, despite his enviable accomplishments. Using his career as a framework, Squires chronicles the transformation of newspapers in the corporate world. He rattles off advertising, circulation, and profit numbers and sketches several candid and unflattering portraits of newspaper executives, mainly colleagues at the Tribune Company. You will learn why that corporation's purchase of the Chicago Cubs caused an uproar in the newsroom and just what is the "dirty little secret" of the newspaper business. A worthy companion to Ben Bagdikian's The Media Monopoly (Beacon, 1990. 3d ed.; a fourth edition is scheduled for 1993), this is recommended for journalism and media collections.
- Bruce Rosenstein, "USA Today" Lib., Arlington, Va.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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