Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News WarDan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings: They were on a first-name basis with the country for a generation, leading viewers through moments of triumph and tragedy. But now that a new generation has succeeded them, the once-glittering job of network anchor seems unmistakably tarnished. In an age of instantaneous Internet news, cable echo chambers and iPod downloads, who really needs the evening news? And, by extension, who needs Katie Couric, Brian Williams, and Charlie Gibson? But the anchors still have a megaphone capable of cutting through the media static. Their coverage of Iraq helped turn the country against that bloody war, and they are now playing a leading role in chronicling the collapse of George Bush's presidency and the 2008 race to succeed him. Yet, even as the anchors fight for ratings supremacy, the mega-corporations they work for have handed them a bigger challenge: saving an American institution. In this freewheeling, intimate account of life atop the media pyramid, award-winning bestselling author Howard Kurtz takes us inside the newsrooms and executive suites of CBS, NBC, and ABC, capturing the deadline judgments, image-making, jealousies, and gossip of this high-pressure business. Whether it is Couric trying to regain her morning magic while coping with tabloid stories about her boyfriends, Williams reporting from New Orleans and Baghdad while worrying about his ailing father, or Gibson weighing whether to follow his wife into retirement while grappling with having to report the explicit details of sex scandals, Kurtz brings to life the daily battles that define their lives. The narrative reflects an extraordinary degree of access to such corporate chieftains as Jeff Zucker and Les Moonves, star correspondents, and the anchors themselves. Their goal: create an on-screen persona that people will tune in to and trust. Yet they are faced with a graying, shrinking audience as younger viewers flock to Jon Stewart, whose influence on the real newscasts is palpable. Here is the untold story of what these journalistic celebrities think of their bosses, cable competitors, bloggers, and each other. |
From inside the book
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Page 10
... Months later Zucker gave up his Today post to launch a prime-time newsmagazine with Brokaw and Katie Couric, his new morning star. Brokaw agreed to assume the extra workload because he felt that NBC News needed a hit evening show after ...
... Months later Zucker gave up his Today post to launch a prime-time newsmagazine with Brokaw and Katie Couric, his new morning star. Brokaw agreed to assume the extra workload because he felt that NBC News needed a hit evening show after ...
Page 13
... months of 1980, everyone wanted him. After nearly two decades at CBS News, he was in the thick of a race to succeed Walter Cronkite, who was so revered that his shadow all but eclipsed those who were eyeing his chair. Rather, who had ...
... months of 1980, everyone wanted him. After nearly two decades at CBS News, he was in the thick of a race to succeed Walter Cronkite, who was so revered that his shadow all but eclipsed those who were eyeing his chair. Rather, who had ...
Page 18
... months later terrorists armed with box cutters hijacked air- planes and flew them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The overheated coverage of the murder of Chandra Levy came to be viewed as an irresponsible interlude before ...
... months later terrorists armed with box cutters hijacked air- planes and flew them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The overheated coverage of the murder of Chandra Levy came to be viewed as an irresponsible interlude before ...
Page 27
... months later Jennings got the real diagnosis : lung cancer . He was determined to beat it , but the disease had already progressed considerably . Surgery was no longer an option . It seemed unthinkable : The man who had always seemed ...
... months later Jennings got the real diagnosis : lung cancer . He was determined to beat it , but the disease had already progressed considerably . Surgery was no longer an option . It seemed unthinkable : The man who had always seemed ...
Page 28
... months and four days, all the network anchors had relinquished their posts, but none under circumstances as sad as these. Charlie Gibson, the cohost of Good Morning America, and Elizabeth Var- gas, an anchor for the magazine show 20/20 ...
... months and four days, all the network anchors had relinquished their posts, but none under circumstances as sad as these. Charlie Gibson, the cohost of Good Morning America, and Elizabeth Var- gas, an anchor for the magazine show 20/20 ...
Contents
Celebrity Anchor | 269 |
The Katie Surge | 278 |
Reinventing the Wheel | 290 |
Scandal Time | 303 |
In the Trenches | 313 |
CliffHanger | 328 |
War Over Words | 339 |
A Softer Touch | 356 |
Wounded in Action | 80 |
Hit or Miss | 90 |
Fake News Rules | 101 |
Terror Watch | 109 |
Grudge Match | 116 |
Mind Games | 129 |
Americas Sweetheart | 139 |
The Courtship | 151 |
Back to New Orleans | 170 |
The Endless War | 186 |
Pregnant and Powerless | 194 |
Morning Man | 208 |
Fall of an Anchor | 228 |
White House Spin | 239 |
Listening Tour | 248 |
The Handoff | 259 |
The Premature Campaign | 365 |
Taking the Fall | 375 |
Journey to Iraq | 392 |
A New Champion | 408 |
Epilogue | 427 |
Acknowledgments | 435 |
Notes | 437 |
Index | 441 |
41 | 444 |
55 | 445 |
70 | 446 |
80 | 449 |
109 | 452 |
129 | 455 |
170 | 458 |
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60 Minutes airtime American anchor chair announced audience Bartlett began believed blog Bob Schieffer Bob Woodruff Brian Williams broadcast Brokaw Bush cable called camera campaign Capus Charlie Gibson chat Clinton coanchor correspondent coverage critics Cronkite Dan Bartlett David decided Democrats Diane Sawyer e-mail election Elizabeth Vargas executive friends going gotten Gregory Imus interview Iraq Iraqi Jeff Zucker journalists Kaplan Katie Couric knew Les Moonves Logan looked months Moonves Morning America network anchor network newscasts never night Nightly Obama Peter Jennings piece political president producer question Reiss Republican Rome Hartman Ross Rumsfeld Russert Sean McManus seemed Senate staff staffers Stephanopoulos story talk television things thought Tim Russert Today told Tom Brokaw turned viewers wanted Washington watch week Westin White House Williams felt woman World News Tonight York