The Spoiler by veteran British journalist Annalena McAfee is a novel set in a London newsroom at the brink of the digital age.
A plot synopsis (peppered with mild judgement) from The New Yorker:
The plot consists of two tales of humiliation. Honor Tait, a war correspondent has been reduced to writing about her declining health--"the wearisome naming and shaming of parts." Her journalistic opposite is Tamara Sim, a tabloid hack who is stuck writing articles with titles like "Top-Ten TV Bad Hair Days." When Sim lands a prestigious assignment to profile Tait for a literary magazine, their paths cross, to disastrous effects for both.
The novel does a novel turn on the usual "digital dystoipia" generated anxiety: Instead of feeding the anxiety further, she questions its premise and author pillories journalists for their mindless droning on about the "end" of journalism as we know it.
A review of the novel is available here.
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