Confessions of an American Media Man What You Find Out After Journalism School

For better or for worse, the news media in the United States has huge worldwide influence. And yet little is actually known about its real inner workings, inherent logic and deeply embedded customs. In this revealing and sometimes brutally honest media autobiography, veteran American journalist Tom Plate tells you what it is really like to work inside these corridors of power. The author -- a syndicated newspaper columnist as well as a professor at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) --takes you behind the scenes at iconic media institutions such as Time magazine, the Los Angeles Times and New York magazine. There you meet such factors of media life as the reality of the deadline, the speed of the news cycle, the inevitability of office politics, the debilitating impact of political correctness and the occasional great joys of journalism. For young adults who are considering a career in the news media, this compelling book is necessary reading; and for older professionals who in their work have to deal directly with the news media or who are deeply curious about its inner workings, this book will come as a true revelation.

Review

"His salty vignettes are as addictive as roasted peanuts, and much better for you, for they are bursting with life lessons earned in his 'no guts, no glory' way, and told with bracing verve." --The Straits Times (Sunday), 21 January 2007.

"Plate is worth reading... It's honest, all right -- a picaresque, gutsy, hilarious and sometimes appalling account of a life spent working at some of the most powerful and respected magazines and newspapers in the country, a yarn that Plate caps off with his "Ten Deadly Sins of Journalism Today..." --James Brady, Forbes.com, 1 March 2007

About the Author

Tom Plate is an experienced American journalist whose international career has seen him working at brand-name media institutions from London to Asia. Born in New York, he completed his undergraduate studies at Amherst College (Phi Beta Kappa) and Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. His twice-weekly syndicated column focusing on Asia and America runs regularly in a number of major newspapers, from Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Seattle and San Diego. He has received many journalism awards, including from the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the California Newspaper Publishers Association and the Greater Los Angeles Press Club. Professor Plate is now a full-time adjunct (contract) professor in the communication and policy studies departments at the University of California, Los Angeles. He teaches courses about American media and American governmental ethics, as well as courses on the media and the politics of Asia. He now lives in Beverly Hills with his wife Andrea and their four cats.