Written by: Jason Leopold

Publisher: Process Books

Jason Leopold wants you to know just how low journalism has sunk in today’s republic. Journalists, it seems, will stop at nothing to get a scoop, and the concept that anything approaching morals or ethics—or truth for that matter—will interrupt this quest is fanciful thinking. Leopold, a former Dow Jones Newswire reporter and winner of several Ace Awards, is a convicted felon (grand theft), a recovered coke addict, a victim of child abuse and an all-around pathetic guy trying to redeem himself by dumping his dirty laundry in public. The two stories—the drug/family dysfunction and his equally dysfunctional journalism career—are told side-by-side. Indeed, the two intertwine to such an extent that Leopold, who admits to routinely making grammar and spelling mistakes and to not properly checking sources, doesn’t know if he’s coming or going half the time; only his preternaturally patient wife Lisa provides him with any type of succor. One gets the sense that Leopold—who broke the Enron scandal but was fired from nearly every job he ever held—has learned from his mistakes and wants to do better. Yet the story he weaves is so full of holes, and the prose so wanting at times, that he doesn’t come off in a positive light. It would’ve been nice to get more detail, for example, about Lisa’s life through all of these ups and downs. Leopold comes off like a self-centered, screwed-up kid who somehow manages to climb back into the ring each time he gets knocked out. You’re not quite sure whom to blame for the sad life he recounts, but you feel bad for him nonetheless.