Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts

A groundbreaking and gripping story about the precarious state of the news business, told by one of the world’s greatest journalists. Jill Abramson follows four companies—The New York Times, The Washington Post, BuzzFeed, and VICE Media—through a decade of decline and radical change, revolutionizing technology, the economy, and the standards for reporting. The new digital reality is nearly killing two venerable newspapers with aging readerships while creating two media giants with growing and volatile millennial audiences. You’ll meet the defenders of the traditional press, as well as the bigwigs who are creating the new, fast-paced media competitors. Featured are Jeff Bezos and Marty Baron (The Washington Post), Arthur Sulzberger and Dean Bakke (The New York Times), Jonah Peretti (BuzzFeed) and Shane Smith (VICE), as well as reporters at these outlets and concerned readers. Under the expert guidance of former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson, this definitive account of the decade-long media breakdown raises key questions about the well-being of a free society and the crisis of trust that threatens a free press.