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Citizen Newhouse: Portrait of a Media Merchant by [Carol Felsenthal]

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Carol Felsenthal

Citizen Newhouse: Portrait of a Media Merchant Kindle Edition

by Carol Felsenthal (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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An acclaimed biographer takes on one of the world's most elusive media moguls in Citizen Newhouse. The harvest of four years and over 400 interviews, Carol Felsenthal's book is an unauthorized investigative biography that paints a tough yet even-handed portrait.
Here is the father, Sam Newhouse, who developed a formula for creating newspaper monopolies in small metropolitan markets and turned it into a huge family fortune. And the sons: Si in the magazine business, with his crown jewels, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, and Donald, who runs the family's newspaper and cable television companies.
Focusing on Si's life and career, Citizen Newhouse takes the measure of one of America's most powerful yet unexamined figures. Felsenthal shows how Si's quirky behavior as a shy and awkward outsider has had a far-reaching impact on the properties he owns, affecting—and in the opinion of some, compromising—the quality of the Newhouse "product" across the country and the world. Felsenthal shines a light on the breathtaking changes that have taken place among Si’s top editors, and the fabulous perks available to members of this elite. She also lays bare the role played by Roy Cohn in the affairs of both father and son.
Citizen Newhouse provides a fascinating account of powerful and glamorous lives—and their impact on the newspapers and magazines we read every day.

Print length

608 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

Seven Stories Press
Publication date

Jan. 4 2011
File size

2927 KB
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Product description

From Publishers Weekly

Originally under contract to Viking, this searing biography of media titan Si Newhouse was canceled, claims Felsenthal Power, Privilege and the Post) in her introduction, by Penguin Putnam chief Phyllis Grann because a friend of Grann's appears on almost every page. To be sure, Felsenthal's work is filled with unflattering descriptions of the men and women found in the top circles of New York's magazine and book publishing scene. She begins, however, with a lengthy history of the media empire?Advance Communications?assembled by Newhouse's father, Sam, a self-made newspaper tycoon born on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The elder Newhouse added Conde Nast to his holdings in 1959; it was these magazines that drew the attention of the younger Newhouse, who, after Sam's death in 1979, left the running of the newspapers to his younger brother, Donald. As Felsenthal charts Newhouse's rising influence in the world of publishing, particularly through his acquisitions of Random House and the New Yorker?trophy companies, she says, meant to increase his prestige among the media elite?she denounces his business style, reporting that under Newhouse's ownership the quality of both the publishing house and the magazine declined dramatically, as did their profitability. It is Advance's newspaper and cable holdings, she contends, that prop up Newhouse's side of the business. Felsenthal misses little in documenting the many hirings and firings that have taken place under Newhouse. Publishing insiders won't learn much here (indeed, most of her financial reporting comes from the Wall Street Journal and other secondary sources), but other readers will find her narrative brimming with dishy suspense. Felsenthal leaves little doubt about what she thinks of Newhouse and his top aides: she calls Alberto Vitale "vile" and Newhouse himself "vacuous and self-indulgent," comparing him unfavorably to William Randolph Hearst and Rupert Murdoch. This undisguised contempt for her subject blunts what is otherwise an often penetrating look at the Machiavellian politics that lie just beneath the ultra-sleek facade of the Newhouse empire. Pictures not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

The increasing conglomerate control of publishing and the media worries many critics. Felsenthal, whose most recent biography focused on the media empire of Katharine Graham (Power, Privilege and the Post, LJ 12/92), now turns her attention to S.I. Newhouse Jr. One of the richest men in America, Newhouse heads a family business that includes a string of newspapers, cable television companies, and the Conde Nast magazines. (He recently sold off Random House to the mighty German publisher Bertelsmann.) Newhouse guards his privacy closely, and this unauthorized biography struggles to reach beyond public information. While there are many details about hirings and firings at the magazines, including the recent changes at The New Yorker, there is little information is given about the impact of the Newhouse family on publishing and journalism. This second recent biography of Newhouse offers some material not found in Thomas Maier's Newhouse (LJ 10/1/94) and will appeal to readers interested in the inside scoop on the operations of the Conde Nast magazines.?Judy Solberg, George Washington Univ., Washington, DC
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

The elusive publishing mogul Si Newhouse is portrayed with much verve and little sympathy by Felsenthal, who has previously profiled Katharine Graham (Power, Privilege and the Post, 1993). The Newhouse media empire started with Sis father, Sam New house, who kept buying newspapers, most of them mediocre, until he gathered one of the most lucrative chains in the nation. He never dictated policy, never caved to unions, and never sold a paper; he just bought more. To teach them the business, he dispat ched sons Si and Donald from city to city on their ``paper route.'' When the family enterprise dropped into the laps of the boys, younger brother Donald ran the profitable papers. Si seemed to find his mtier in the byzantine culture of magazines when, in 1959, he bought venerable Cond Nast, publisher of Vogue and other valuable periodicals. Under his erring management, Cond Nast endures mercurial masthead changes and, Felsenthal establishes, continuously bleeds money. He bought the renowned New Yorker; si nce then, there's been internecine warfare and floods of red ink while, in Felsenthals view, the magazine lost its way under the guidance of Tina Brown (who recently and famously jumped ship). Si captured Random House, too; then, recently, he sold it to a foreign media conglomerate. Felsenthal has a jolly, gossipy time in the worlds of Brown, Diana Vreeland, and Sis old pal, the late Roy Cohn. Much of the text is based on interviews with fugitives from the land of hype and buzz, which lends it a certain a d hominem flair. The Newhouse visage, dcor, demeanor, and lack of appropriate philanthropic urgenone quite meet the author's standards (though according to one source, his wife ``knows how to seat people''). A former girlfriend compliments Si as ``very se nsual in his own wee little way.'' Here's a sly and occasionally catty story of publishingan occasionally feline businessand an absorbing study of a feckless billionaire. (8 pages photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All r ights reserved. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Review

“Praise for Carol Felsenthal: ""Carol Felsenthal tells the inside story . . . with exceptional verve and dilligence . . . . [A] gripping story.” –Michael Stern, San Fransisco Chronicle

“Praise for Carol Felsenthal: "Felsenthal lays out facts in a riveting style.” –Eric Abeel, New Woman

“Praise for Carol Felsenthal: "[Felsenthal] does a great job of conjuring up . . . characters in all their complexity.” –Geraldine Brooks, Wall Street Journal --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

About the Author

CAROL FELSENTHAL is the author of several acclaimed biographies, including the best-selling Power, Privilege, and the Post: The Katharine Graham Story; Princess Alice: The Life and Times of Alice Roosevelt Longworth; and The Sweetheart of the Silent Majority: The Biography of Phyllis Schlafly. --This text refers to the hardcover edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00WPQTBV6
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Seven Stories Press; Seven Stories Press 1st ed edition (Jan. 4 2011)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 2927 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 608 pages

Customer Reviews:
4.0 6 ratings

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concombre20

Illisible

Reviewed in France 🇫🇷 on July 30, 2021

Verified Purchase

Livre pratiquement illisible en raison des fautes
Par exemple, condé nast est écrit cond6 nast, condd nast, condi nast et j'en passe. Pour un ebook à ce prix, c'est scandaleux

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Catalytic Converter

Dysfunctional man controlling modern magazines

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 5, 2017

Verified Purchase

"Citizen Newhouse" gives us great insight into the dysfunctional and insecure man (he just died 10/1/17) who ran Conde Nast Publications (some might say 'into the ground'). According to the WSJ's Jeffrey Trachtenberg, "those who worked with Si describe him as 'an introverted but rigorous businessman whose zest for magazines reshaped the publishing landscape.' " Reshape he certainly did. As Felsenthal attests, when monopolist Si sought to mark his territory at Conde Nast, he would shuffle the deck by revamping magazine content with either sex or celebrity or both. And when he brought in his own picks (usually those who shared his own ethnic ancestry) to "re-org" a magazine, the editor getting the ax was the last person to know...most often finding out by reading about it in the press. Not everyone thought these tendencies were classy or wholesome moves made with sound judgment and that is just the tip of the iceberg. There is good reason why the media establishment avoided reviewing this book...they themselves were either featured unfavorably or would lose their jobs. This is stomach churning but necessary reading for those who follow media studies.

One person found this helpful

Paul S. Bodine

Worthwhile

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 19, 2022

Verified Purchase

Highly readable, savvy about the media industry, meticulously researched, few punches pulled, but still balanced, it reads like a true insider’s account with insights from many who knew and worked with Newhouse. Only downside is its datedness.

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Citizen Newhouse: Portrait of a Media Merchant Kindle Edition

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Carol Felsenthal

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