An Unfiltered Look at Public Finance, Media, Politics and Sports
Business Biography
Date Published: November 28, 2022
Get unfiltered broadcasting and career advice with this biting and provocative firsthand account of working in media.
Paul Burton has 45 years under his belt, including 10 as a regional editor for New York City-based trade publication, Bond Buyer, and he’s survived—and thrived—to tell the tale. From his humble beginnings to his rise in the industry, Burton covers a lot of ground in his stories, from dealing with people in media and finance to workers in tech and personnel. He not only gives honest insights about financial news but also reveals the controversial internal politics of journalism and publishing that run rampant.
Burton’s wisdom on topics such as covering hot-button issues and fighting against negative stereotypes proves that a career in media is just like the news itself: eclectic, bold, and unexpected.
Take part in the drama and missteps that are a part of success in one of the best journalistic memoirs about business on the market.
Interview
Introduce yourself and tell me about
what you do.
I am a retired journalist and author
of two books, the most recent, “Fiascoes and Foibles: An Unfiltered Look at
Public Finance, Media, Politics and Sports” (Elite Authors). It came out last
Nov. 28. My earlier book was “Tales from the Newsrooms: An Offbeat Look” (Create
Space), in 2011.
“Fiascoes,” a collection of anecdotal
essays, reflects largely on my coverage of U.S. public finance over the last 10
years of my career – as a regional editor for a business publication in the
shadow of Wall Street – against the backdrop of my 45 years in media. They
capture drama, missteps and intrigue I encountered with color and biting,
irreverent humor. Plenty of attitude. Topics range from transit/infrastructure
to media and politics, and also include broadcasting and podcast dynamics, the alarming
clout of tech bureaucracies, the abject failure of open-plan office layouts in
the workplace and how my early days in sports journalism shaped and benefited
my career.
Unique to my perspective is my
blue-collar background. The media employs precious few people from working
backgrounds these days. I didn’t go to Harvard, Duke or Stanford and prance
right into the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. I was the son of a
bartender who navigated a winding road, often working for small-to-medium media
outlets who punched above their weight class, and frequently landed a rewarding
knockout punch.
Tell me more about your journey as
an author, including the writing processes?
“Tales” was a fun read, but I also saw
room for improvement in my next book. “Fiascoes” has much more meat on the
bones.
Much of what I covered throughout
the U.S. Northeast for trade publication The Bond Buyer had me saying to
myself, “You can’t make this stuff up.” That morphed into “Damn, I should write
another book.”
Foundationally, I spent about three
years planning, saving articles I had written and recycling snippets throughout
the book. I researched and double-checked every topic along the way, and
monitored for breaking developments to update as needed. I interviewed selected
media colleagues, with some cross-marketing in mind. You have to “sell the
sizzle.” The bite you see is appealing and multiple readers have told me they laughed
out loud while reading the book.
Challenges included determining
which topics merited stand-alone chapters and which ones I should merely “bake
in” to other chapters. In the end I went with fewer chapters to achieve quicker
turnaround without affecting quality.
Tell me about your book
Someone who bought my book recently
asked: “The book title says public finance. Will I be able to understand it?”
The answer is a resounding yes. I wrote it in chatty, straightforward English.
The tone is blunt.
Certainly, newsroom veterans,
college communications and business students, and public finance veterans will
find this book enlightening. But so will anyone wanting to know
more about these topics.
“Fiascoes” includes a dedicated
chapter about New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the politics
behind its funding and $50 billion of debt. The political maneuvering
surrounding this state-run agency and the city it serves resonates well beyond
New York.
Other chapters dwell on such
scandals as the debt crisis in Harrisburg, Pa., that nearly left Pennsylvania’s
capital city bankrupt; and the farce surrounding Rhode Island’s funding for a
video-game company funded by former major league baseball pitcher Curt Schilling.
That company, 38 Studios, folded, leaving state taxpayers straddled with about
$100 million in debt.
There’s a chapter about my native Boston,
rich with historical context; and one about Connecticut, “a study in contrasts”
with its massive wealth in some regions and abject poverty in its cities.
Again, I selected chapters with
marketing along the Northeast Corridor in mind. I grew up in Boston, live in
New York and worked for a decade in Connecticut. I have many contacts in
Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia region.
To flesh out the book, I added
anecdotal chapters about problems related to open-plan office setups, against
the backdrop of the post-Covid work-at-home dynamic; the “technoid scourge,” which
is not an older person’s rant against technology, but a cautionary tale for
all; and some fun stuff about my years in sports journalism and having to fight
the “dumb jock” stereotype.
Any message for our readers
A
fun read! Check the highly positive reviews on Amazon and LinkedIn. And feel
free to see my recent appearance on “The Brand Called You,” a webcast-podcast
series hosted by entrepreneur and author Ashutosh Garg. https://tbcy.in/the-importance-of-trained-and-ethical-journalists-in-the-digital-age-paul-burton-journalist-author/?fbclid=IwAR2rwV38IPaNQM1SVP5n5C3o9teRzbNN7npABdrSFyWCtSMLkVL-AoD5ie8
About the Author
I am a retired journalist and author of two books, the most recent, “Fiascoes and Foibles: An Unfiltered Look at Public Finance, Media, Politics and Sports” (Elite Authors). It came out last Nov. 28. My earlier book was “Tales from the Newsrooms: An Offbeat Look” (Create Space), in 2011.
“Fiascoes,” a collection of anecdotal essays, reflects largely on my coverage of U.S. public finance over the last 10 years of my career – as a regional editor for a business publication in the shadow of Wall Street – against the backdrop of my 45 years in media. They capture drama, missteps and intrigue I encountered with color and biting, irreverent humor. Plenty of attitude. Topics range from transit/infrastructure to media and politics, and also include broadcasting and podcast dynamics, the alarming clout of tech bureaucracies, the abject failure of open-plan office layouts in the workplace and how my early days in sports journalism shaped and benefited my career.
Unique to my perspective is my blue-collar background. The media employs precious few people from working backgrounds these days. I didn’t go to Harvard, Duke or Stanford and prance right into the New York Times or Wall Street Journal. I was the son of a bartender who navigated a winding road, often working for small-to-medium media outlets who punched above their weight class, and frequently landed a rewarding knockout punch.
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