“On the Record” host Greta Van Susteren just posted to GretaWire, saying that she canceled an interview with veteran journalist Bob Woodward, who was scheduled to speak about his new book, Obama’s Wars.
Why?
I just cancelled a Bob Woodward new book interview because the publisher won’t get me a copy to READ BEFORE I do the interview. ON THE RECORD at ten is not the Home Shopping Channel – I actually read the books before I do the interview out of respect for the viewers
While the book has been a regular subject on the cable news channels over the last few days, those discussions have focused on excerpts that appeared in the New York Times and USA Today, rather than from the book itself. In other words, as of this morning, it does not appear that any of the cable news channels have a review copy of the book.
That would not be unusual for Woodward, who often does not reveal that he has even been working on a book until just a few weeks before it is slated to be published. But why stiff Van Susteren and the other cable channels?
That may have something to do with the fact that Woodward has given ABC News the first TV interview about Obama’s Wars. Woodward will sit down with Diane Sawyer September 27, the same day his book is released.
Update: As some readers have noted, other networks have received copies of the book… just not from the publisher. Rather, they got them the same way USA Today and the Times did: by finding bookstores willing to sell it to them before the embargo date. Of course, if Van Susteren bought Woodward’s book by getting a store to violate the embargo, maybe it would have been Woodward who canceled the appearance.