Exasperating, thought provoking, compulsively readable. I found myself wanting to throw my book (well, phone - I read it on kindle) across the room but I kept reading. Mitchell has a massive ego and is a surprisingly mediocre writer (in terms of craft... in his defence he probably didn't practice that much during all those years as editor) and has the prejudices one expects in a survivor of News Limited, but makes so many decent points: he's over snippy about the ABC but Fairfax has become a toilet and doesn't know his market. Some of his claims as to the greatness of The Australian are laughable (particularly about impartiality) but at least it tries to be a good paper and has broken some stories.
I actually wouldn't have minded more show biz and sport especially considering News Limited's influence in those areas as well. For instance there's barely a mention of Super League war. There's fascinating insights into the Murdochs - Rupert's comfort with graziers near Yass, Lachlan's pro-gun crim-hating, James' progressiveness - and also politicians: Abbott and Rudd in particular.
Come to think of it Mitchell's memoir is a lot like The Australian - smart, thought provoking, bigoted, deluded. You wish he/it wasn't so biased/lunatic it could be a genuinely great.
No comments:
Post a Comment