Reality show : inside the last great television news war / Howard Kurtz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kurtz, Howard, 1953-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Television broadcasting of news--United States--History.

Television broadcasting of news.

Television news anchors--United States--Biography.

Television news anchors.

History.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xiv, 464 pages ; 25 cm

Edition:

First Free Press hardcover edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Free Press, 2007.

Summary:

Reality Show is about a battle for survival. While the network anchors are certified celebrities vying for audience share, their real competition is the culture of instantaneous information as Web sites, cable chat, blogs, and iPods threaten to render them obsolete. Their huge megaphone still echoes across the national debate over war and politics, but it is growing weaker by the day, and they know it.

Brian Williams hustled over to a group of White House officials before President Bush left the room. "Okay," he said. "So we can say we were with him, we can say we asked him questions, and we can indicate what he said and how he answered-just no direct quotes, right?" Right, he was told. At the White House weeks later, Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric began needling Williams for having attributed Bush's answer on the Saddam Hussein hanging directly to the president. Williams turned very serious, insisting that White House officials had given their approval. When the luncheon began, Bush made clear to the anchors that he understood the unpopularity of his Iraq escalation and why politicians of both parties were running for cover. Then the president made a major mistake ...

Contents:

1 Changing of the Guard 1

2 No Pretty Boy 7

3 Hurricane Dan 13

4 The Comeback Kid 22

5 Heir Apparent 29

6 The Accidental Anchor 41

7 Dynamic Duo 55

8 Pressing the President 70

9 Wounded in Action 80

10 Hit or Miss 90

11 Fake News Rules 101

12 Terror Watch 109

13 Grudge Match 116

14 Mind Games 129

15 America's Sweetheart 139

16 The Courtship 151

17 Back to New Orleans 170

18 The Endless War 186

19 Pregnant and Powerless 194

20 Morning Man 208

21 Fall of an Anchor 228

22 White House Spin 239

23 Listening Tour 248

24 The Handoff 259

25 Celebrity Anchor 269

26 The Katie Surge 278

27 Reinventing the Wheel 290

28 Scandal Time 303

29 In the Trenches 313

30 Cliff-Hanger 328

31 War Over Words 339

32 A Softer Touch 356

33 The Premature Campaign 365

34 Taking the Fall 375

35 Journey to Iraq 392

36 A New Champion 408.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 437-440) and index.

ISBN:

9780743299824

0743299825

OCLC:

153773147

Online:

Publisher description