If you work in, have taken notice of, or know much about the fortunes of, the Australian media industry over the last decade or more, you’d think this would be a very simple story – a graph with a constantly downward-pointing arrow indicating lost sales, profit, jobs and companies.

But Burrowes, who founded the media blog Mumbrella, tells the story with far more nuance. There’s no escaping it, most of the arrows do point downwards but there are success stories featuring both large and small personalities, executives and moguls who rise, fall, and rise again.

It’s a weighty tome, but Burrowes has structured it well with every chapter concentrating on a different sector (TV, radio, print publishing and so forth) and following events in chronolocal order.

Burrowes writes with verve and colour, his prose enlivening the story into what might in different hands be a fairly dry rendition of overarching facts, actions and consequences.

Above all it’s a welcome sliver of rare good news about the continued painful contractions of the media sector as we all abandon it in ever-increasing rates for digital services like Google and Facebook.

Though many are losing their jobs and more doors are closing on hallowed names in the business, others have been more enterprising, and the industry as a whole isn’t quite dead yet.

Reviewed by Drew Turney