When an interview subject says “I’m telling you more about these internal negotiations than I should,” you know the rest of the interview is worth watching. That’s what happened Wednesday night on Charlie Rose, during a conversation with World News anchor Charles Gibson. It was a must-see, and thanks to Google Video, you can see it for free. Here are some of the highlights:
During their initial talks in late 2005, David Westin told Gibson he didn’t think the Woodruff/Vargas was “ready,” and that’s why he wanted Gibson for a couple of years. “I made a mistake in those negotiations,” Gibson said. “I never should have gotten into a discussion of a finite period of time. I should have said no to a finite period of time.” And he did, eventually. But “I should have said no at the beginning,” he said. “Because if you sit down in a job, and people know when you’re going to leave that job before you ever start it, then you never really have it.”
Later, when it became clear that the Woodruff/Vargas experiment was coming to an end: Diane Sawyer “said to me, ‘I’m burned out. I’m really burned out at Good Morning America.’ And I said to her, go do World News. Do it. And she said no, you want to do it! And I was comfortable either way. I’d been through the negotiations.”
Gibson said he thinks Sawyer “really grappled with the idea of, ‘Do I want to do World News?'”
| GIBSON: And I said to David, if she wants to do it, she oughta do it. We– ROSE: And you said to David, if Diane wants to do it, she should do it, rather than me? GIBSON: Yes. ROSE: You did? GIBSON: Yeah. ROSE: Because? GIBSON: Because I thought she’d be terrific at it. ROSE: You thought she’d be better than you? GIBSON: [LAUGHS] Charlie… you always have a sense of, you know, pride. ROSE: Well, you said it! GIBSON: I… I… am… am arrogant enough and boastful and confident enough to either those of decisions by David Westin would have been right. |