Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War
- ISBN-10
- 0743299825
- ISBN-13
- 9780743299824
- Category
- Social Science / General
- Pages
- 480
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2007-10-09
- Publisher
- Free Press
- Author
- Howard Kurtz
Description
Dan 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.
Get the book
Other editions
Similar books
-
Understanding Human Behavior and the Social Environment
By Karen Kay Kirst-Ashman, Charles ZastrowIn this best-selling text BY social workers and FOR social workers, Charles Zastrow and Karen K. Kirst-Ashman, nationally prominent social work educators and authors, guide studetns in assessing and evaluating how individuals function ...
-
War and State Making: The Shaping of the Global Powers
By Karen A. Rasler, William R. ThompsonWar and State Making: The Shaping of the Global Powers
-
Mapping the Social Landscape: Readings in Sociology
By Susan J. FergusonCharrière , H. 1969. Papillon . Robert Lafont . ... 6 NOT OUR KIND OF GIRL ELAINE BELL KAPLAN Social research is concerned with the definition and assessment of social phenomena . Many social concepts such as teen pregnancy are ...
-
Body Trauma TV: The New Hospital Dramas
By Jason Jacobs, Lecturer in Film and Television Studies Jason JacobsA very early example of this is the US single play ' The Hospital where a disturbed porter disrupts the power supply to the hospital . It was a CBS / Studio One production broadcast Doctor : Television , Storytelling and Medical Power ( ...
-
正義與差異政治
By 艾莉斯．楊◆1991 年美國政治科學學會 Victoria Schuck 獎 ◆20 世紀最重要的女性主義政治哲學家，《像女孩那樣丟球》作者 Iris Young 代表作 ◆90 年代至今社會運動思想源頭，開創正義理論全新典範 ...
-
反穀：穀物是食糧還是政權工具？人類為農耕社會付出何種代價？一個政治人類學家對國家形成的反思
By 詹姆斯．斯科特★當代最重要的政治人類學家詹姆斯．斯科特全新著作。 ★顛覆過往對國家與文明成形基本假設，提出今日國家建立的各種想像。 ...
-
陇上学人文存.初世宾卷
By 范鹏, 初世宾, 李勇锋陇者甘肃，历史悠久，文化醇厚。陇上学人，或生于斯长于斯的本地学者，或外来而其学术成就多产于甘肃者。学人是学术活动的主体，就《陇上学人文存》（以下简称《文存》）的 ...
-
Feminism and the Legacy of Revolution: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas
By Karen KampwirthBooth, John. 1985. The End and the Beginning: The Nicaraguan Revolution. Boulder: Westview. Booth, John, and Thomas W. Walker. 1989. Understanding Central America. Boulder: Westview Borge, Tomás. 1984. Carlos, the Dawn Ls No Longer ...
-
2025: Scenarios of U.S. and Global Society Reshaped by Science and Technology
By Joseph Francis Coates, John B. Mahaffie, Andy HinesGrowing global linkages and complexity are redressing the paradox aptly characterized by sociologist Daniel Bell in the last century , “ government is too big for the small problems of our society and too small for the big ones .
-
African American Firsts in Science & Technology
By Raymond B. Webster... George W. 318 Neal , Lonnie G. 126 , 312 Nickerson , William J. 11 Nokes , Clarence 121 Page , Lionel F. 356 ... Wanda Anne A. 150 Small , Isadore , III 135 Smart , Brinay 106 Smith , Jonathan S. , II 312 Smith , Morris Leslie 312 ...