Private Equity Destroys "Labors Of Love" --- Reich

Last week, Paramount announced that it will be selling Simon & Schuster, one of the biggest and most prestigious publishing houses in the United States, to the private equity firm KKR, for $1.62 billion, Robert Reich wrote in his newsletter.

Photo Insert: News organizations once made money in order to report the news. Now, news organizations exist in order to make money, Reich pointed out.

“The acquisition vastly increases the influence of financial interests over book publishing. This worries me because it continues a trend that began years ago — elevating profits above the love of publishing books. When I published my first book decades ago, the purpose of most publishing houses was to publish books. Publishers made money in order to publish books… But in more recent years, the major purpose of most book publishers has switched from publishing books to making money,” Reich lamented.

The same dynamic has infected other parts of the economy. News organizations once made money in order to report the news. Now, news organizations exist in order to make money, Reich continued.

“For years, CBS News was insulated from the commercial side of CBS. This allowed Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite to report what they thought the public needed to know. Today, most network and cable news has to show a profit. It’s been a slippery slope leading to Fox News’s shameless pandering to the lies and bigotry its viewers find entertaining,” he concluded.

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