Critic Reviews
Good
Based on 19 reviews on
"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.
I have read all 430 pages of my friend @JillAbramson’s deeply researched new book Merchants of Truth. It’s distorted to frame it as a Times takedown. It compellingly chronicles the rise of @BuzzFeed & @Vice as well as the epic struggle by @nytimes & @washpost to grow digitally.
Journalist and author of "Billion Dollar Brand Club," coming Jan. 28, 2020
I've worked with Jill Abramson on the toughest and most sensitive stories. She is a brilliant journalist who holds herself to high standards. Some people may not like Merchants of Truth, and there may be minor mistakes in 500 pages, but no one should doubt her work or integrity.
A weekly conversation with a non-fiction writer. Hosted by @aaronlammer, @maxlinsky and @ev_rat.
Episode #330: Thomas Morton (@Babyballs69), former writer and correspondent for HBO’s “Vice News” and major character in Jill Abramson's “Merchants of Truth” — https://t.co/D7an3OhNRp https://t.co/9gpTky93wv