Categories: OLD Media Moves

Book from NYTimes writers on Dow Jones/News Corp. in trouble

Keith Kelly of The New York Post reports Friday that a book proposal about News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch‘s acquisition of Dow Jones & Co., the parent of The Wall Street Journal from columnist Joe Nocera and business editor Larry Ingrassia of The New York Times appears to be in trouble.

Kelly wrote, “As of yesterday, however, Nocera had already bailed out of the project and the entire idea could be dead in the water when book publishers return next week from their vacations in the Hamptons. Publishers had already been cool toward the idea and advance money that was being talked about was believed to be in the low six-figure range.

“When Nocera was reached yesterday and asked if he was working on a book deal with Ingrassia, he replied, ‘Not anymore.’

“And when asked what led Nocera to end his participation in the project, he said, ‘None of your business.’

“However, sources said the deal wasn’t generating enough of an advance to make it worth the duo’s while to split it two ways. And it may not even be worth it for one author.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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John R says:
August 31, 2007 at 3:58 pm
With so much media focus on the deal for so long-under laser sharp scrutiny, I think there was little suspense/drama left untold about the SAGA.
That might be the reason why the deal is going off-track or getting cold shoulders.