NEWSROOM CONFIDENTIAL: Lessons (and worries) From an Ink-Stained Life by Margaret Sullivan - Review & Giveaway

 

I was thrilled to get the opportunity to read the memoir, NEWSROOM CONFIDENTIAL (StMartinsPress) by Margaret Sullivan. My career for twenty plus years was also in journalism, television broadcast. Everyday was different and I was constantly learning. I can't imagine having had another career. 

Margaret Sullivan has worked in print newsrooms for four decades, big and small. In her new memoir we follow her journey from being an intern in a small Buffalo newsroom to being the first woman to become the public editor of The New York Times and then media critic at The Washington Post. She shares how it wasn't easy dealing with sexism and fighting, some even physical in this highly competitive business. 

At the beginning, many men and women pursued journalism as a calling. But now it is a business, plain and simple. Journalists try to be truthful and accurate, but various public figures claiming unfairness in their coverage, lapses in judgement, calls for diversity in the newsroom and unethical behavior has turned journalism into the subject of public scrutiny. Margaret Sullivan has seen it all and gives readers a front row seat into the 4th estate.

With a mix of  observing with laser eyes, subtle criticism and a bit of good humor, Sullivan takes us behind the scenes of some of the biggest influential news outlets and explores how readers and viewers have lost faith in the reporting and what it'll take to gain their trust again.

I've been a journalist since high school, which was ... well, quite a few years ago. Over the past four decades, I broke some gender barriers. I became the first woman editor-in-chief of my hometown newspaper, The Buffalo News, where I started as a summer intern. 

Later, The New York Times named me its first woman "public editor" or readers representative. I did my best to address complaints about the most powerful media organization in the world, and in some cases, to call for changes. Later, I was hired as The Washington Post's media critic -- again, the first woman in that role; I won three national writing awards for my Post columns.

In 2020, my first book, "Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy," was published by Columbia Global Reports. It was named a Best Book of the year by NPR and the Washington Post, and won the Porchlight Award for best current events and public affairs book of 2020.

I've taught journalism at Columbia University, City University of New York and Duke University, where I'm on the faculty of the public policy school. I love young journalists, and have been honored to mentor many of them

I am the mother of two grown children, Alex and Grace, both pursuing public-interest law careers. My cat is Ricochet (so named because he tends to get excited and bounce off walls). I live in New York City and in western New York, where my family has a cottage on beautiful Lake Erie.

Oh, one more thing: I am a mediocre tennis player -- but I'm working on it.

Thanks to St. Martin's Press we have one copy to giveaway. Just tell us your thoughts about the media. We'll announce a winner soon. Good luck.  #SMPinfluencer. #NewsroomConfidenial

GIVEAWAY: USA only please