More on Sorkin, the NYT and his book

Marion Maneker writes on The Big Picture blog about what it means for New York Times Sunday business editor Timothy O’Brien to criticize writer Andrew Ross Sorkin in a New York magazine article about the M&A beat reporter, and the influence of Sorkin’s book, “Too Big to Fail.”

Maneker writes, “The bone of contention between O’Brien and Sorkin –- who broke the news of the Paulson waiver –- that became the peg of Gabriel Sherman’s story is fairly irrelevant to the success of the book (both as a document of the financial meltdown and as a bestseller.)

“Buried in the story may be the bigger issue, Sorkin’s lack of interest in writing negatively about Cerberus and Blackstone, Cerberus’s Feinberg was one of Sorkin’s biggest ‘gets.’ Setting aside the usual friction within a newsroom over credit, fame and compensation, the issue going forward is more about the value of the M&A franchise to a news organization in a transformed financial world.

“The Times has already taken some hard looks at the effects of the deal culture on ordinary companies and the lives of their workers.  As Goldman Sachs continues to become a short-hand punchline for out-of-touch financial types, one can only wonder if the Times will need to shift its resources away from the M&A beat.”

Read more here.