Don’t trust the media? These six books take us behind the curtain to show how good journalists work

Nobody trusts journalists anymore.

One scroll through my noisy Twitter feed confirms this. Judging by the number of angry messages on my screen and in my inbox, it’s a tough time to be a reader of Canadian media. Posts from fellow journalists about abuse and anonymous threats indicate it’s not so easy being a writer right now, either.

Since I became a reporter at the Star last year, I’ve read widely, wanting to understand how other reporters worked and how they approached doing their stories. These books have made me a better, more careful reporter — and they’re also useful to give readers an insight into how newspapers run, how writers craft their stories and how good reporters get it right.

“On the Clock,” Emily Guendelsberger (Back Bay Books)

When Emily Guendelsberger was laid off from her newspaper job in Philadelphia, she travelled to three cities across the United States to work in notoriously difficult, entry-level jobs: “picking” at an Amazon fulfilment centre in Kentucky, tech support at a call centre in North Carolina and cashiering at a McDonald’s in San Francisco. “The status quo is cruel and ridiculous,” she says in the book, recounting instances of extreme poverty in some of the United States’ most reviled workplaces.

“On the Clock” is a reaction and companion to Barbara Ehrenreich’s famous investigative book “Nickel and Dimed,” and its understanding and articulation of complex critical theories is stellar. Guendelsberger is funny, specific and ruthlessly self-aware: she checks her privilege consistently and intentionally, reminding us her experiences are not indicative of those of the people of colour and folks with disabilities working these jobs alongside her. A must-read for the Amazon age.

“Nickel and Dimed,” Barbara Ehrenreich (Picador)

“On the Clock” could not have made this list without “Nickel and Dimed” before it. Barbara Ehrenreich, the iconic essayist and investigative journalist, died last year, leaving behind an impressive oeuvre. 2001’s “Nickel and Dimed” was ranked 13th on the Guardian’s list of the 100 best book of the 21st century and proponents of social justice have frequently referred to it as a cornerstone of modern leftist literature.

As recounted in “Nickel and Dimed,” Ehrenreich worked as a maid, a waitress and a Walmart sales associate and, much like Guendelsberger, related exactly how these low-wage jobs feel. Small moments in break rooms and cheap motels come together to form the book, as mandatory a read for any young journalist as the Canadian Press Stylebook. Guendelsberger and Ehrenreich are an impressive duo of investigative writers and they’ve both made their mark on the industry. These are two of the best inside scoops on how draining, rewarding and vital journalism can be.

“Newsroom Confidential,” Margaret Sullivan (St. Martin’s Press)

Huh, so that’s what a public editor does!

Jokes aside, Sullivan’s candid, expansive memoir about a life in print instills an appreciation for local newsrooms. Sullivan began her career as a summer intern in the 1980s, soon rising to the highest ranks of her newsroom and leaving to become public editor at the New York Times in 2012.

Sullivan doesn’t dance around the fact that jobs in legacy media are all-consuming. But even when relationships suffer, or newspapers face more and more budget cuts, the work is urgent and it’s uniquely rewarding; more than once she drives home the point that her time as a writer and editor in the newsroom allowed her to take on the mammoth role of public editor at the Times. Sullivan patiently explains what exactly it is that public editors do: liaise between the newspaper and the readers to ensure editorial standards are rigorously upheld. In the final third of the book she homes in on the importance of mentorship in this industry.

Sullivan’s memoir provides valuable insight into the decline of legacy media, citing the rise of “fake news” and the devaluation of truth in North America as cause for concern. But more importantly, she tells readers, subscribers and advertisers around the world that it’s an industry worth fighting for. There will always be stories to be told to a public audience, and it’s urgent they be told accurately, fairly and with style.

“Secret Life,” Kevin Donovan (Goose Lane Editions)

No, the Star didn’t ask me to include this one.

Donovan’s book on breaking the Jian Ghomeshi story offers an amusing look behind the scenes at the Toronto Star, and it has offered me invaluable context for the recent history of my workplace.

Donovan takes the time to break down journalistic lingo (and even pokes fun at some of the Star’s more antiquated publishing software, letting readers in on the trade secrets of the sometimes-buggy word processing program that brings our stories to life).

“Secret Life” speaks candidly about the realities of conducting an investigation about a well-known media personality — sometimes, you might run into them at gala dinners in Toronto, Donovan tells us, which might make separating your personal and professional lives a bit tricky — and the book masterfully reminds the reader just how messy the Ghomeshi media circus was in the mid-2010s, and reveals the dynamics, hierarchies and customs of a legendary Toronto newsroom.

“She Said,” Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey (Penguin Books)

“She Said” recently received a successful screen adaptation, a glitzy film starring Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan. Once more, discourse on the New York Times’ explosive Harvey Weinstein investigation has come to a head: how exactly did the paper break the scandal and how did the reporting affect workplaces everywhere?

The authors take us inside the New York Times, into their own blazing, busy careers in investigative journalism. The work-life balance is minimal and the story, detailing Weinstein’s abuses in Hollywood, is brutal. But Kantor and Twohey change the world: the Weinstein story sparked major change and started an international conversation on consent and power dynamics in the workplace.

The journalists tell us how they found their sources, how they conducted interviews and how they worked with their editors to piece the article together at the eleventh hour. Even though we know how it all turned out — the story got published and Weinstein faced consequences for his actions — the book sustains a remarkable amount of narrative tension.

“Best Young Woman Job Book,” Emma Healey (Random House Canada)

Emma Healey’s “Best Young Woman Job Book” tempers a charming admiration for words with the realities of working paycheque to paycheque as a writer. The freelance writer and journalist guides us through the editorial processes of her writing opportunities — and the minimum wage jobs that allowed her to get them — with total finesse.

A spare memoir told in echoing vignettes, “Best Young Woman Job Book” shows the gnarly (and weird) side of being paid for writing. SEO optimization is little more than figuring out the right order for the right buzzwords — it’s seldom thrilling and can lead to some pretty dry writing. Copywriting for an “adult entertainment” company is just as boring as any other corporate, sit-at-a-desk-and-rot job. Freelancing for a major Canadian newspaper — just as Healey does as the Globe and Mail’s poetry critic — is a constant debate on how much your time is actually worth.

Healey makes the point that you’d be stupid not to write an article when someone’s paying you $250 to do it. In Healey’s words, $250 is “exactly what it is and nothing else … both a lot of money and almost nothing.”

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