Kurtz: Gibson Pushed Vargas Out At ABC

Eat The Press:

More on the Howie Kurtz book, perhaps you've heard of it? Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War? Oh, yes, that one. Today Howie was on GMA, talking to Chris Cuomo about the book (hat tip: TVNewser here, Howie's new blog here) but not, per TVNewser, about "the insider details of the book." That's not surprising considering that a third of the book is about ABC, especially the Sturm und Drang regarding who finally ended up in the anchor chair. "Why, what Sturm und Drang?" you ask, impressed that I speak German. "I thought Elizabeth Vargas' pregnancy rendered her unable to maintain anchor duties and she stepped down voluntarily!" Yes, well, you would think that. Except turns out that's not how the cookie crumbled...as telegraphed by the title of Chapter 19: "Pregnant and Powerless."

Read the whole story: Eat The Press

Comments

[Joseph A. Palermo - Huffpost Blogger]

I saw you on the comedy central. You really think the corporate media soured public opinion on the war? It has more to do with the car bombings and IEDs than with anything coming out of the CBS,NBC, etc. Give me a break Howard! We know your bread and butter come from playing nice with the corporate media but please read a book or two about the political economy of the media -- read McChesney, Cohen, FAIR, and others please -- they don't have to censor because the message is already corporate friendly, like yours is.

[LIR]

Call it the male ego getting the better of the person. Even Charlie Gibson, portrayed as a nice guy, isn't above a little bit of good old throwing one's weight around to forbid an able-bodied woman from making her name. Vargas is right about GMA...it is unwatchable.

[Ginzaman]

Aaron Brown was under contract to CNN after he was taken off nights. He was also forbidden to do interviews without CNN clearance. So enjoy that almost two-year vacation.

As for ABC, Rather and the other networks, it's the same thing: in the end the rich white wins. Remember Connie Chung vs. Rather? Barbara Walters vs. Harry Reasoner? When push comes to shove, the male half of the anchor team won't tolerate anybody stealing the fame and fortune. Big surprise? Not.

[mpgarr]

I used to be a big fan of all three of the "Big Three" mainline television networks--but with the retirement of Brokaw, the death of Peter Jennings and the fiasco that ended Dan Rather's reign as CBS news anchor--I no longer care much at all for any of the broadcast network newscasts--
I now tend to get my news online now---and I do catch Olberman and Matthews on MSNBC---CNN pretty much sucks and ain't no way in hell I'd watch FOX--
I do watch the Newshour on PBS and NOW with David Bronchio and Bill Moyers Journal. I also have to watch Bill Maher's show each week too. If I can--I catch a delayed broadcast of Amy Goodman's Pacifica show: "Democracy Now!"
I am glad I got an HD TV set and the box for that set has the HDnet Channel on it--Dan Rather is doing a great job on that channel and his reports along with the long form documentaries on that station are among the best things going on any television network--hopefully the audience for that channel will grow as more people get HD sets and the boxes for them on cable and satelite. That channel is doing news like it used to be done on the big networks.

[OckhamsElectricRazor]

Just another battle over which multi-millionaire gets to tell America what to buy.

[youngharry]

Just one more right-wing propagandist off the air. Vargas, like others at ABC, CBS and NBC (I don't count Fox as it's not a news organization), are morally and intellectually dishonest, Where are the Edward R. Murrows when we so desperately need them?

Honor, Integrity, Truthful, these concepts just don't seem to exist anymore in the national news media.

[TJTelecaster]

Gibson is the WASP version of Rick Sanchez..

Where's Aaron Brown..?

[workingboy]

YES!! where is Aaron Brown? he vanished in an instant, not to be seen since. instead, we get OJ, Clarence T, Colin P, Jenna B, Lynne C, Jimmy C and a host of others who won't go away. why hasn't Aaron written a book? why isn't he on larry king undead? Aaron ..... where are you? you must have gotten a ton of Hush Money from CNN. i miss your reading the front pages of tomorrow's newspapers from various cities in the country. OMG! speaking of the missing, HAS ANYONE SEEN CHER?

[LIR]

He is okay...Amy Goodman destroyed him in an interview.­..Aaron was your typical corporate media type who said that he couldn't do stories in depth because of time constraints of commercial TV...of course Amy pointed out that is BS.

[OxyCon]

Anyone else find it odd that Kurtz set his target on network (read "Librul") news organizations?
Could it be because Kurtz is a right wing tool?

You'd think a book on the inner workings of Fox "News" would be much more entertaining. But it seems as though damaging network news was Kurtz' goal.

[cnick]

They both are unwatchable, when she is on I turn the channel and I ALWAYS turn the channel when that pompous ass Gibson comes on. They are all missing the boat, Ann Curry is an excellent newscaster, she fills in for Brian Williams and is better than all of them, Katie, Charlie, Elizabeth.

[LIR]

Ann is great.

[levibatgirl]

Who gives a shit?

[angryhumanist]

That about covers it; who indeed?