News Junkie

(Paperback)

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In News Junkie, the cutthroat worlds of journalism, politics, and high finance are laid bare by Jason Leopold, whose addictive tendencies led him from a life of drug abuse and petty crime to become an award-winning investigative journalist who exposed some of the biggest corporate and political scandals in recent American history. Leopold broke key stories about the California energy crisis and Enron Corporation's infamous phony trading floor as a reporter for the Dow Jones Newswires. While he exposed high-rolling hucksters and double-dealing politicians, Leopold hid the secrets of his own felonious past, terrified that he would be discovered. When the news junkie closed in on his biggest storyone that implicated a Bush administration memberhe found himself pilloried by angry colleagues and the presidents press secretary, all attempting to destroy his career. Introducing an unforgettable array of charactersfrom weepy editors and love-starved politicos to steroid-pumped mobsters who intimidate the author into selling drugs and stolen goodsNews Junkie shows how a man once fueled by raging fear and self-hatred transforms his life, regenerated by love, sobriety, and a new, harmonious career with the media.

Reviews

"I love this book. When other U.S. reporters were licking Ken Lay's loafers, Leopold went for Enron's thieving throat. Leopold is a journalist who insists on real investigative reporting--inside documents, inside sources, hard knife-in-the-gut evidence--detective-style reporting that is just about illegal in the U.S.A. Bravo and my personal Pulitzer to Jason Leopold. Every journalist in America should read this, then quit or riot." -- Greg Palast, author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy "Investigative superstar Jason Leopold spares no one, least of all himself, in this devastatingly accurate first-hand expose. News Junkie provides the best account so far of how, and why, current American journalism has become so pharisaical, spineless, and detached from the truth." -- T. D. Allman, journalist and author of Rogue State, Unmanifest Destiny, and Finding Florida "Having told the truth for years as a first-rate reporter, Jason Leopold now comes completely clean about himself and also sheds light on his imperiled profession. A riveting account of just how hard the truth can be." -- Mark Crispin Miller, author of Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney's New World Order "Frighteningly honest. What Anthony Bourdain did to the world of cooking in Kitchen Confidential, Leopold will do to the world of journalism. It's Sid & Nancy meets All the President's Men." -- Rob Cohen, coauthor of Etiquette for Outlaws "This memoir is one of the most brutally honest books I've ever read. You will grow to believe, and cheer on, this flawed hero as he gains a liberating knowledge of himself." -- Joe Loya, author of The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell: Confessions of a Bank Robber

Author Bio

An investigative reporter for VICE News who covers Guantanamo, counterterrorism, national security, human rights, open government, and civil liberties issues, Jason Leopold has been called a "FOIA Terrorist" by federal employees for his aggressive use of the Freedom of Information Act. He lives in Los Angeles.