My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism

A detailed look at British journalism going back to the emergence of the earliest newspapers, the origins of today's broadsheets and tabloids and taking us up to the industry today. Mostly interesting and written with humour and a good dollop of industry gossip (albeit dated now). It could, ironically, have done with some editing - at times it was overlong and repetitive.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable personal history of journalism, written by the then BBC Political Editor, and former editor of the Independent, Andrew Marr.My Trade certainly delivers on its promise to provide ”A Short History of British Journalism”, but rather than delivering a dry journalistic history, Marr injects copious amounts of humour and panache. He provides many personal anecdotes – some longer and more developed than others, but all entertaining – and passes judgement on develo [...]

Andrew Marr's book (which is anything but short with 385 pages of dense text) is a surprisingly enjoyable journey into not just the history of British Journalism but also a good treatise of what makes the British Press tick.The book suffers from bizarrely long paragraphs - considering his occupation where writing one sentence paragraphs which try to encapsulate immensely complex news information is a standard daily chore - and the chapters would benefit from much more breaking down into subheadi [...]

Andrew Marr has been everything open to a journalist from junior sub editor to reporter to columnist to editor, except serving as a foreign corespondent. In My Trade, he traces the history of journalism, describes the functions of its various parts and people, and muses upon the ethics and morality of both print and broadcast media.Readers of or more daily papers will do well to heed Marr's advice about how to recognise exaggeration (which he suggests is common) or plain invention (which he clai [...]

As a journalist, I found this to be a fair, insightful and interesting look at my trade. For anyone outside of the media, you'll most likely find this a little hard going. (Unless you're a historian!) But for insiders, it's fascinating. Marr's comments on today's journalism are particularly enlightening, although since it was published back in 2004, it could do with some updating to take into account the political (and technological) changes since. Yes, it's a bit long. But overall I thought it [...]

As one of the country's most famous and well-loved journalists, Andrew Marr is perfectly positioned to provide us with a detailed, interesting and humorous look at the inner workings of the British newspaper industry. And that's exactly what he's done. My Trade: A Short History of British Journalism mixes Marr's detailed knowledge of the industry's history with witty personal anecdotes, and together they create an interesting and entertaining read that is as informative as it is enjoyable.

After the Scottish Independence referendum in September I felt devastated by the state of the UK media and the bias of the BBC. Having been brought up to be proud of our national broadcaster, I wanted to find out what had gone wrong and when and how. This book was informative and funny and although it's now ten years out of date I'd recommend it to anyone. He's a snappy writer. If only there was more!

Considering that Andrew Marr is a journalist, this book is very long and wordy. It gives interesting insight into the British news scene, but it would probably be more interesting to someone familiar with all the famous British news casters. It's thoroughly researched and very detailed, but I did not enjoy reading this book and I would not recommend it to anyone.

I have been fascinated for a long time about the history of journalism. Andrew Marr starts from early journalism in this country, from Danial Defoe 17th c to modern day. He gives an account of what makes a good story and what goes wrong when journalism is at it's worst.The account seems quite comprehensive, but poses more questions than answered.

Mostly very interesting account of Marr's life in journalism. It gets a little less interesting with his move to the BBC and his growing celebrity, with the sense being given that there is now more at stake and consequently more to hide or mask. Sometimes a little repetitive, the book still makes fascinating reading in our age of the eclipse of newspaper culture. I would recommend it.

Nice primer, but - being from 2004 - showing its age (a new edition would now need to cover hacking, blogging, social media, RT/Press TV disinformation, fragmented viewing and listening, etc). Oh, and seems Fisk and Pilger were always 'controversial' - Marr's diplomatic term for the other variety of c-word.

I got this book as a present from my UK Mom and Dad (Lynn and Peter) when they visited us in Nepal. This book introduced me to the journalism of Britain. Loved it from the moment i got it:)Thank you so much. present ever:)

I thought I'd love this as the subject matter is really interesting, but after battling through several chapters, I gave up, bored. Surprising given he is a celebrated journalist, it was overly long and took too long to get to the point. A shame.

Andrew Marr, a well-known BBC journalist, digs into history of journalism with both interest and wit. It's a fascinating book which tells you the story behind the scenes when it comes to UK current affairs and political life.

A very entertaining and informative read, particularly good on his first interview at The Scotsman. Candid and very funny about his brief tenure as editor of The Independent and a perfectly carved cameo of arch-bully, Kelvin MacKenzie. Should be read as a companion piece to Evelyn Waugh's Scoop

Unfamiliar with certain aspects of British journalism's history, I found large chunks of details in the second half of the book, boring to an extent one would feel that entire chapters went unedited.

A great writer on his pet subject should produce magic. it is rather boring in places and doesn't engage

Great insight into the world of journalism! Good overview on the history of journalism etc! Well worth a read!

I don't usually like Andrew Marr (theres something about his voice) but I loved this book. Informative and witty at times, it didn't bore me like I thought it would.

Fantastic insight into the world of British journalism. This book inspired me to go out and look for stories. A real page-turner, very difficult to put down.