KEN AULETTA

Who Rules the Media?

Tuesday, April 20 at 7:30pm · Mountainlair Ballroom

The Columbia Journalism Review ranks him as America's premier media commentator, and for more than twelve years, Ken Auletta has written the "Annals of Communications" column for The New Yorker-profiling such leading business figures of the information-age as Microsoft's Bill Gates, Disney's Michael Eisner, Fox's Rupert Murdoch, and cable television moguls John Malone and Ted Turner. And somewhere along the line, this award-winning author and columnist has managed to write nine books, including four national bestsellers: Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way; Greed and Glory on Wall Street; The Highwaymen: Warriors of the Information Superhighway; and World War 3.0: Microsoft and its Enemies.

In his award-winning column for The New Yorker, Auletta chronicles major events in American business and intimately profiles the inner-workings of the powerful people shaping the cable television, Hollywood studio, newspaper, television, publishing, and technology industries. He not only analyzes quantifiable aspects like profit and loss statements and the shifting landscape of government regulations and mergers, but also the human factors that help illuminate decisions.

Auletta received a master's degree in political science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He has served as a Peace Corps trainer and teacher, special assistant to the US Secretary of Commerce, and political correspondent for both the Village Voice and the New York Daily News.

Auletta has won numerous journalism awards including the National Magazine Award and the distinction as one of the twentieth century's top 100 business journalists. Former CBS television president Frank Stanton called Auletta's bestseller Three Blind Mice "the best book ever written on network television." And the Wall Street Journal called Greed and Glory on Wall Street "a riveting chronicle of the lust for money, power and reputation. Invaluable."

In addition to his noteworthy published works, Auletta has also been a host and political commentator for many TV programs including Frontline. He has been a regular guest on PBS' The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, the Charlie Rose Show, and Nightline.