I hope the Hotline won’t mind if I reprint this…Emily Goodin’s summary of Michael Wolff’s Vanity Fair examination of the network evening newscasts is very interesting: “It’s like the two-party system, or the once glamorous airline industry, or the Kennedys. Nothing quite like it ever existed; nothing quite like it will exist again.” The rest is after the jump…
EXCERPT: “CBS’ Dan Rather, on the old days: “Civil rights. Vietnam. Watergate. These were the stories we told. We’re now being blamed for them.” Wolff compares past and present anchors, noting “the stars became the brand instead of the brand’s being the brand.” Execs had to cater to their anchors. For example, Tom Brokaw was a “prickly and unenthusiastic loyalist” to GE, whereas Brian Williams is “kind of an in-house GE master of ceremonies.” Williams is “at ease with the realities of corporate life (likewise, Tim Russert rose in NBC’s Washington bureau in part because he was a good conduit of information between the GE top brass and Washington politicos).” And while it “sounds insulting” perhaps it “isn’t. The world is as it is. Brian Williams is someone who can adapt.” The news industry “creates awkward, politically difficult situations. You really have to have a taste for it. It seems hardly a coincidence that the most successful news launches of the past generation were masterminded by contentious and combative guys: Ted Turner at CNN and Rupert Murdoch at Fox.” Viacom, GE, and Disney are “among the least likely enterprises to be comfortable with the contentiousness and necessary combativeness of the news business. News is always going to put you in an awkward spot” (March ’05 issue).”