My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism

Andrew Marr

Pan Macmillan, Sep 18, 2009 - Biography & Autobiography - 432 pages

How do you decide what is a 'story' and what isn't? What does a newspaper editor actually do all day? How do hacks get their scoops? How do the TV stations choose their news bulletins? How do you persuade people to say those awful, embarrassing things? Who earns what? How do journalists manage to look in the mirror after the way they sometimes behave?

The purpose of this insider's account is to provide an answer to all these questions and more. My Trade, Andrew Marr's brilliant, and brilliantly funny, book is a guide to those of us who read newspapers, or who listen to and watch news bulletins but want to know more. Andrew Marr tells the story of modern journalism through his own experience.

This is an extremely readable and utterly unique modern social history of British journalism, with all its odd glamour, smashed hopes and future possibility.

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LibraryThing Review

User Review  - jontseng - LibraryThing

An intelligent mixture of history, analysis and practice. Marr's experience as a national broadsheet editor (however inconsequential) shines through in his writing.

Contents

• THE SNOBS AND THE SOAKS: 1
• How Journalists First Became Powerful: 13
• WHAT IS NEWS?: 50
• THE DIRTY ART OF POLITICAL JOURNALISM: 117
• LORD COPPER AND HIS CHILDREN: 189
• INTO THE CROWDED: 256
• TWO ARISTOCRACIES: 325
• How to be a Columnist: 369
• Epilogue: 377

About the author

Andrew Marr was born in Glasgow in 1959. He studied English at the University of Cambridge and has since enjoyed a long career in political journalism, working for the Scotsman, the Independent, the Daily Express and the Observer. From 2000 to 2005 he was the BBC’s Political Editor. He has written and presented TV documentaries on history, science and politics, and presents the weekly Andrew Marr Show on Sunday mornings on BBC1 and Start the Week on Radio 4. He has written several books, including A History of 20th Century Britain and A History of Modern Britain. He lives in London with his family.

Bibliographic information

• Title: My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism
• Author: Andrew Marr
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan, 2009
• ISBN: 033047619X, 9780330476195
• Length: 432 pages
• Subjects: Biography & Autobiography / Editors, Journalists, Publishers; Biography & Autobiography / Literary Figures; Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs; Language Arts & Disciplines / Journalism; Political Science / General; Political Science / History & Theory; Political Science / World / European