Hard News: Twenty-one Brutal Months at The New York Times and How They Changed the American Media

Yes, Hard News tells the story of the Jayson Blair scandal, but that's really not the most interesting part of the book. What's more interesting -- and more the point -- is getting to see inside the institution that defines East-Coast intelligentsia, scares politicians, and produces Sunday Styles. And what better time to peek behind the curtains than when the editorial staff is slinging mud and the paper is in shambles? It's weirdly suspenseful, too, for a book whose ending you already know (hint: Blair made up sources). In the end, the book begs the question of whether the Times' handling of the crisis was a staff revolt against a tyrannical editor, an exercise journalistic navel-gazing, or a fight for the standards of media integrity. It's a pretty juicy read for a book that's also thought-provoking.

Seth Mnookin has written a sensational book regarding the downfall of two employees of the New York Times in 2003 and the sullied reputation for which the Times has fought hard to atone. The story revolves around an aspiring reporter, Jayson Blair, who finally got caught plagiarizing many columns while inventing others, and Howell Raines, the Darth Vader of the journalism world. If there ever was a boss one wouldn't want to have, Mnookin shows us that Raines was that man. The larger element is the world of the Times, the most important and influential newspaper in the world. Mnookin has a way with narrative and for those of us who have grown up with the Times he reveals the underside of a finished product. Like the old saying, "the two things no one wants to see made are laws and sausages", the author spins a chilling tale of how the incidents with Blair and the heavy-handedness of Raines brought the Times to its knees. When you read the Times on a daily basis it's sometimes hard to believe what goes on behind their closed doors. Mnookin takes us inside that world and reveals a site of petty politics, bruised egos, ambitious reporters and a workplace that often borders on the chaotic. There are good and bad people in this book. I highly recommend "Hard News". It's so good that once you get into it, you'll find it hard to put down.

"Hard News" is an unstoppable account of an editor's abuse of power and a reporter's abuse of trust. People may say that a book was "hard to put down." In the case of "Hard News," I picked it up, read for a few hours, went to bed, and then actually woke up at 4 a.m. thinking about the book and had to read it to the end. That has never happened to me before. Mnookin's feats of reporting, fast-paced style, and gripping and insightful yarn are impressive, but not what makes the book stand out. Rather, what kept me turning the pages was the way the characters of Jayson Blair and Howell Raines emerged, developed and then seemed to coalesce into two sides of the same coin of egomaniacal dysfunction. Subtle, devastating, and incredibly fun to read.

I have to admit, I was less than enthusiastic about reading what I assumed would be yet another sensationalistic account of the Jayson Blair scandal. I had always felt that the Blair scandal, though it clearly captivated the media world in New York, had received coverage out of proportion to its actual significance. It was beaten to death: a story told ad nauseam simply because a) the media was obsessed, much more than the average citizen was, with such lunacy at an august institution like the New York Times, b) the Blair story contained so many lurid, tabloid-style details. But a friend who had received an advance copy of the book recommended it to me, and, despite my reservations, I picked up a copy. From the first page, I was captivated. Mnookin is a truly special writer, blending pithy, relevant reportage with suspenseful plotting and effortless style. More importantly, it was refreshing to see that Mnookin had removed the Blair story from the center of the narrative, focusing instead on the much more interesting issue of the New York Times as an institution: its history, its philosophy, and the internecine struggles that created an environment conducive to error and failure. This book offers a fascinating window into the heart of American media. This is what the Jayson Blair story SHOULD have been about from the beginning: though Blair's individual case is certainly eye-catching, and though he deserves blame for his completely irresponsible actions, Mnookin makes the case that his failures were symptomatic of much more serious issues at the nation's paper of record. It is a fascinating, well-constructed, and well-argued thesis, and in the process of making it, Mnookin reveals much about the nature of journalism and truth-telling in America. This is an engrossing book with great significance for our country and culture, and it would be a shame if it were dismissed, wrongly, as just another reheated retelling of an overheated scandal.

Amazingly detailed read. I was furiously flipping pages. Furiously. I burned my copy of "The Curse of the Bambino" and replaced it with this book. If you want to get to the bottom of what happened at the NYT, grab this book. A sabermetric review of everything that happened, focusing on Jayson Blair, the journalistic equivalent of Alex Rodriguez. Sound and fury signifying nothing.