Saturday, January 06, 2018

I know. Politics drive me crazy too...

But this is about a book (that might have an impact like Uncle Tom's Cabin).

Speaking of that Rupert Murdoch biography, it seems Trump was not aware of the content of that book, which was quite critical. Yet he was talking to Murdoch during your reporting. 
"It's mystifying to me. I don't know if I came up. The distinct feeling that you have when you say that you're writing a book is that these guys don't care about you. You're a kind of non-entity. "A book." Trump is not getting excited about somebody writing a book.
Because he places no importance on books. 
Yeah. They almost can't imagine what it is. I remember when the Murdoch book came out and Murdoch's guy [former News Corp. marketing and corporate affairs exec] Gary Ginsberg, called me, furious, and said, "What is this? The book is all about him!" I said, "It's a biography." And Ginsberg says, "But it's so personal." That's when I realized, these guys don't just not read books — they don't know what books are.
From an interview with Michael Wolff about his book Fire and Fury, about the Trump administration

1 comment:

  1. I'm not a fan of the narcissists and buffoons who dominate politics and news coverage right now, which is why I think it's especially important that I don't automatically believe anything that confirms my biases—and in this case, Wolff's odd conclusion strikes me as damaging to his credibility, at least a little. Every moderately successful personality on Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Channel has published a book, in some cases several, and they sell well. Books are a big part of how Fox personalities "brand" themselves and encourage viewer loyalty. At the same time, Fox commentators milked Hillary Clinton's most recent tome for weeks, so their news execs also clearly understand the ability of a book to fill countless hours of on-air commentary.

    Wolff is obviously right that a print journalist can slip into a TV news operation or political institution, be underestimated and go largely overlooked, and gather some seriously juicy stories—which is admittedly, in 2018, downright bemusing. That said, Fox execs obviously understand the usefulness of books for branding, advertising, audience relations, and all that jazz. Heck, last month the president literally endorsed a Fox personality's book on Twitter. The people Wolff dislikes may not think a book is a special cultural artifact, they may have disdain for things literary, they may not be thoughtful or humane people, but he's drawing a dubious conclusion not supported by other rather ample evidence. They know full well what books are, their potential as tools of persuasion, and the power of publishing to amplify a message and make money.

    All of this may seem like petty hair-splitting, but the whole truth really is in the details. Administrative disarray strikes me as a more plausible (if still partial) explanation for why the White House underestimated Wolff and got blindsided by him, not "they don't know what books are."

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