Review: Harold Mitchell’s bio & Mia Freedman’s memoir
Recent weeks have seen me battling through a couple of books that give insights into different aspects of the industry.
Actually, “battling” does them an injustice, as I enjoyed reading both Mia Freedman’s Mama Mia and Harold Mitchell’s Living Large.
And having read the books (and interviewed them both for The Mumbo Report), you couldn’t pick two greater extremes within the industry than the fluffy world of magazine editorial to the grittier domain of media buying.
Both have been at the top of their particular part of the industry, and led large teams, but their approaches are entirely different.
So first to Mama Mia – and you can see the first part of our video interview here:
Now, although this is of interest for those working within the industry, this is written mainly for a consumer audience – the sort of people – mums and young women – who hang out at her Mama Mia blog. (And indeed, she’s more honest talking about pregnancy and loss than she is in dishing the dirt on former colleagues or rivals.)
But there’s plenty of industry stuff to get your teeth into – work-shy work experience people, sycophantic PRs, life in the ACP bubble. However, for those that know the history, the real anticipation for the reader is how she’ll tell the story of her unhappy time at the blokey Nine Network and the doomed The Catch Up. When the book came into the office, that’s the chapter I immediately turned to.
In truth she tells what happened, but artfully dodges the nitty-gritty of the work politics. Although she makes it clear she was deeply unhappy there, if you’re not careful you’d think the whole thing was all her fault.
There’s a similarly selective approach from Harold Mitchell in his book, written by journo Peter Wilmoth, based on a series of interviews with the big man. So what you get isn’t quite a life story as a selection of anecdotes.
In all honesty, I’ve never particularly been a fan of Mitchell, and in our few dealings he’s never been fond of me (you may get a hint of that if you watch the video chat below). But the book did make me like him a little more, if only for the fact that things didn’t come quite as easily to him as one might now assume.
But this is certainly not warts-and-all. For those who think of him as having a huge ego, you won’t change your mind. It’s the first book that’s dedicated a chapter to tributes from the great and the good.
It is, however, entertaining, with stories of tales from the top table – and particularly the other big man, Kerry Packer. Packer gets 22 mentions, his son Stuart – now the company CEO – 14.
And it would make good source material for someone brave enough to do an unauthorised biography.
In both cases, we haven’t heard the dirt yet.
- Mama Mia by Mia Freedman, HarperCollins, $27.99; Living Large by Harold Mitchell, MUP, $49.99
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
Linkedin
topics
blogger
book
Harold Mitchell
journalist
Kerry Packer
Mama Mia
media buying
Mia Freedman
publishing
review
The Harold Mitchell interview was quite interesting although I felt it was a tad bit less about the man professionally and more on the personal facets. Although it’s quite clear who has the biggest ego in the Australian media industry, Tim needs to scale down on getting burrs under the saddle during his interviews.
Just my two bits …
User ID not verified.
I thoroughly enjoyed both books. Although before I even picked them up, I had a lot of respect for both Mia and Harold, and the books didn’t disappoint me.
For me both books were exciting and inspiring. Mia’s more on a personal level – how she battled through difficult times in her personal life, but still shone at work and in the media industry. Her dedication to women and passion for (at the time) magazines and her work in general are inspirational and I think the book is a must read, especially for women.
I found Harold’s book very inspiring from a professional perspective. Though the prologue shocked me – I didn’t realise the book would be so personal. I love his Epic Lunch stories – this chapter gave me goosebumps. I also loved the tips for Young Entrepreneurs and the chapter on where the media is going. I think we’re lucky to be able to have some insight into Harold’s business, life and mind – even though the book is not a “tell-all”.
User ID not verified.
very well handled Tim! you’re a Denton in the making
User ID not verified.
Mitchell = Jabba the Hutt jabbering away
Gee, doesn’t Mitchell have tickets on himself ?!! Who cares ?
He’s nothing but a tireless self-promoter in the most conservative and exploitative industry of our times, and somehow he expects people to be interested in this ?
I don’t think I’d waste my $50 on the print edition on the basis of this
User ID not verified.
Harold Mitchell’s version of the birth of the first Solo commercial is pure fiction. I know.
I wrote it.
If the rest of the book is as lazy in researching the facts it should be on the fiction shelves.
User ID not verified.