A gripping reconstruction of a media story whose implications have yet to fully unfold.
A former Wall Street Journal reporter delivers a behind-the-scenes account of Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of the venerable publication.
From the beginning Murdoch was playing a larger game, larger even than the “mere” acquisition of Dow Jones & Co. By adding the nation’s premier business-news organization and its coveted crown jewel to his already vast News Corp. empire, he intended to displace the New York Times as the country’s news and opinion leader. To win over the Bancroft family—for 105 years the owners of the proudly independent Journal and without whom no transaction would be possible—and to calm the paper’s nervous newsroom, the shrewdly self-aware Murdoch knew that he had to overcome his reputation as a meddling owner who used his newspapers to advance his own business interests and political views. Of course, his stunning $5 billion, $60-per-share offer was a good start to negotiations. Ellison appears to have nailed down all aspects of the deal. A ten-year Journal veteran and thoroughly versed in the paper’s culture, the author capably describes the newsroom dynamic, both pre- and post-Murdoch, the shifting power centers and the transformation from a more contemplative, analytical form of journalism to the banner headline, breaking story, product of today. Ellison also excels at sorting out the 35 adult Bancrofts, exploring the family fissures Murdoch so adroitly exploited among a group who saw themselves as noble guardians of a fine tradition, but who come off here as thin-blooded, self-interested and no match for the Australian’s thorough preparation and nimble maneuvering. Their feckless attempt to impose on the media baron a deal structure assuring editorial independence for the Journal, even as they helped themselves to his billions, almost defines a stewardship ripe for termination. It’s a measure of Ellison’s evenhandedness that, while clearly no Murdoch fan, she candidly exposes the ownership and management deficiencies that made a journalistic icon so vulnerable to capture.
A gripping reconstruction of a media story whose implications have yet to fully unfold.Pub Date: May 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-547-15243-1
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2010
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.
A well-constructed critique of an economic system that, by the author’s account, is a driver of the world’s destruction.
Harvard Business School professor Henderson vigorously questions the bromide that “management’s only duty is to maximize shareholder value,” a notion advanced by Milton Friedman and accepted uncritically in business schools ever since. By that logic, writes the author, there is no reason why corporations should not fish out the oceans, raise drug prices, militate against public education (since it costs tax money), and otherwise behave ruinously and anti-socially. Many do, even though an alternative theory of business organization argues that corporations and society should enjoy a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit, which includes corporate investment in what economists call public goods. Given that the history of humankind is “the story of our increasing ability to cooperate at larger and larger scales,” one would hope that in the face of environmental degradation and other threats, we might adopt the symbiotic model rather than the winner-take-all one. Problems abound, of course, including that of the “free rider,” the corporation that takes the benefits from collaborative agreements but does none of the work. Henderson examines case studies such as a large food company that emphasized environmentally responsible production and in turn built “purpose-led, sustainable living brands” and otherwise led the way in increasing shareholder value by reducing risk while building demand. The author argues that the “short-termism” that dominates corporate thinking needs to be adjusted to a longer view even though the larger problem might be better characterized as “failure of information.” Henderson closes with a set of prescriptions for bringing a more equitable economics to the personal level, one that, among other things, asks us to step outside routine—eat less meat, drive less—and become active in forcing corporations (and politicians) to be better citizens.
A readable, persuasive argument that our ways of doing business will have to change if we are to prosper—or even survive.Pub Date: May 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5417-3015-1
Page Count: 336
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2020
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