Kurtz would have had an important book if he had backed them up with thorough reporting and tough thinking. But he doesn't. There's a slapdash and overwrought quality to the effort that leaves readers without a coherent story or a compelling argument. The book careens from scene to scene as Kurtz interjects himself to offer a maddening mix of insight and baloney. That's a shame.
Business is one of the most vibrant and interesting beats now in journalism.
And media critics shortchange it. They tend to be politics junkies, and their obsession with Washington causes them to miss the fact that corporations often influence the lives of people more than the government does. So Kurtz was on to something. There's plenty to criticize in the way business reporters cover the private sector. Curiously, he neglects the populist argument that journalists on the business beat too often see corporations simply as investment vehicles, not as social actors.