Good books about our business

[Stack It]

I try to leave work at the door, but I'm going through one of my "rebuilding phases" as I call them. Every few years, I try to essentially evaluate how I'm doing, my work, my writing, all my television skills and see what I can change. I tear myself down so to speak and re-invent myself. I go over my work everyday, but this is more of a personal performance review. I don't need books on how to do my job, I'm well beyond that stage in my career. I'm looking for good books by people in television about television. What kind of suggestions do you guys have?

[Diplomat]

"Tell Me a Story" - Don Hewitt
"Broadcast Blues" - Eric Burns
"Five Seconds to Air" Bob Losure
"Larry Kane's Philadelphia" - Larry Kane
"Make It Memorable" -Bob Dotson

This should get you started. If I think of any others, I'll post again.

[Clever Login Name]

[Focker]

Originally posted by Clever Login Name:

I second upandown's book. Great stuff. Also, Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News by Bernard Goldberg. Doesn't matter if you believe his accusations about Dan Rather, it's still a good read.

[ April 06, 2007, 12:04 PM: Message edited by: Focker ]

[Diplomat]

I agree, Focker. Unfortunately, most of the people who have savaged Mr. Goldberg and his book obviously didn't bother to read it and it showed from the comments they made. He never argued that the dominant bias was political; he contends it's cultural, and I tend to agree with that, as most of the insiders in the NY-DC axis don't get out of their bubble often enough.

Rather's "The Camera Never Blinks" is a good read, although I have wondered how much of his story is exaggerated.

Larry King by Larry King is also a good book about the broadcast business. The stories are entertaining, even though I'm sure he has embellished more than a little.

An excellent book about print & broadcast is the legendary Les Midgley's "How Many Words Do You Want?" If you see it in a used bookstore or at the library, buy/borrow and enjoy.

[ April 06, 2007, 12:50 PM: Message edited by: Diplomat ]

[Produce man]

"And So It Goes"-Linda Ellerbee

[TVMattNYC]

Originally posted by Diplomat:
I agree, Focker. Unfortunately, most of the people who have savaged Mr. Goldberg and his book obviously didn't bother to read it and it showed from the comments they made. He never argued that the dominant bias was political; he contends it's cultural, and I tend to agree with that, as most of the insiders in the NY-DC axis don't get out of their bubble often enough.

I concur.

I read Goldberg's book, and as a network insider myself now for more than a decade, I'd have to admit to 85% of the book being dead-on. The other 15% ... the Rather-bashing ... I was never a party to so I can't really form an informed opinion on that.

[Focker]

Not being a network insider myself, I tended not to bother much with the Rather accusations (it's all just gossip and he-said/he-said stuff anyway, right?) And, Dip, I also agreed about Goldberg's statements about cultural biases.

Glad this thread's here...I needed some suggestions for books for the plane on the business trips I have lined up!

[Pregnant Reporter]

"Finding God in the Evening News" - Jody Dean

[Rosenblum]

"Three Blind Mice" by Ken Auletta - old but fascinating look at network news and what happened.

"Amusing Ourselves to Death" by Neil Postman - the definitive look at the impact of TV on culture.

"Wizards Who Stay Up Late At Night" - by Katie Hafner. A great primer on the web.

"The Worm and the Cheese" by Carlo Ginzburg. Admittedly esoteric, but very interesting heresy trial of a 16th century Italian miller. What are the implications of new communications technologies?

"Spots" It's a Dog Eat Dog Business"

[Diplomat]

Originally posted by Pregnant Reporter:
"Finding God in the Evening News" - Jody Dean

I want to read that one. I'm not personally familiar with Mr. Dean's work but know about him through friends in the biz.

"Prime Times, Bad Times" by Ed Joyce. Regardless of what you think about Mr. Joyce, it's an interesting read.

"Who Killed CBS?" by Peter Boyer. Documents a lot of the turmoil CBS News endured during the Sauter/Joyce/Rather era.

"The Murrow Boys" is also very good although die-hard Murrow partisans may not like it as much.

"CNN: The Inside Story" by Hank Whittemore. Good account of CNN's first ten years.

"Roomies" by Don Farmer and Skip Caray. Plenty of interesting TV tales.

[Stack It]

Thanks guys for your ideas, I've got a nice hefty shopping list to fill today. Now we'll see how I turn out when I get to the other side.

[JJ]

Breaking from the crowd pleaser stuff, ‘The News about the News: American Journalism in Peril’- Leonard Downie Jr. and Robert G. Kaiser. You can check out their ‘Booknotes’ program from a few years ago. Don't agree with everything, but a fresh contrarian view.

http://www.booknotes.org/Program/?ProgramID=1670

"Write for the Ear, Shoot for the Eye, Aim for the Heart," By Al Tompkins

[ April 09, 2007, 02:13 PM: Message edited by: CorkySherwood ]

[3.58 mHZ]

Quivers, by Robin Quivers; great look into the industry from the perspective of Stern's co-host (or whatever)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...bestbookbuys00

Current Affairs, A Life On The Edge by Maury Povich. Oddly, a good look at making TV. Would be great for starters.
http://www.amazon.com/Current-Affair...6805882&sr=1-9

[Focker]

I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with some of these authors. I'll do a google search, but are there any industry books that were NOT written by someone on-camera or on-air (behind the scenes: photogs, producers, etc.)? I'm interested in reading Al Tomkin's book. Didn't know he had one.

[ April 17, 2007, 07:11 AM: Message edited by: Focker ]

Originally posted by Focker:
I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with some of these authors. I'll do a google search, but are there any industry books that were NOT written by someone on-camera or on-air (behind the scenes: photogs, producers, etc.)? I'm interested in reading Al Tomkin's book. Didn't know he had one.

You can find the Tompkin's book on Amazon.com, just type in his name in the search and it comes right up!

[Vulcan]

I'll second "Three Blind Mice" by Ken Auletta. It still makes a good read today.

I've got the Freedman book too... it's pretty good.

[pacey1800]

I second "Prime Times, Bad Times" and "Who Killed CBS?" I also third "Three Blind Mice". Another book I would like to recommend is "Bad News at Black Rock" which is a first person account of the turmoil at the CBS Morning News in the 80s.

[Diplomat]

Originally posted by pacey1800:
I second "Prime Times, Bad Times" and "Who Killed CBS?" I also third "Three Blind Mice". Another book I would like to recommend is "Bad News at Black Rock" which is a first person account of the turmoil at the CBS Morning News in the 80s.

"Bad News at Black Rock" is a good read. So is Huntington Williams' "Beyond Control: ABC and the Fate of the Networks."

[5w40]

Looking up at one of the bookshelves, here's a few, mostly historical:
The Powers that Be - David Halberstam [CBS from 1929 to about 1979, with the Washington Post, Time, and LA Times mixed in]
Out of Thin Air - by NBC-TV news president [twice] Reuven Frank. He's the guy who brought you Huntley AND Brinkley. Barbara Walters, too.
Fighting for Air - Liz Trotta - pioneering tv news reporter, went to 'Nam for NBC.
--the aformentioned Peter Boyer on CBS, Linda Ellerbee [mostly about NBC] and Ken Auletta's Three Blind Mice.
Me and Ted Against the World - Reese Schonfeld - helped build Chicken Noodle News with one R.E. Turner.
Marc Gunther's The House that Roone Built - ABC News at its best and worst.
And Bill Carter's Desperate Networks. aka The Life and Times of Jeff Zucker.
All of this will give you good background about tv news from the Paley-ozoic period until now.