Auletta, Ken. Three Blind Mice: How the TV Networks Lost Their Way. New York: Random House, 1991. 642 pages.

If you assume that NBC, CBS, and ABC provide entertainment that matters, and their news departments report news that matters, then whatever is happening in the executive suites of these networks must be important. Now assume that if they let you sit in on their meetings, you'll be that proverbial "fly on the wall" who's able to produce an objective account of insider wheeling and dealing. Author Ken Auletta spent six years watching these execs, and felt there was a book in it because the networks are under pressure from cable TV, videocassette recorders, and the Fox network.

One distasteful element is that the titans Auletta is puppy-dogging are people who assume that winning is everything. Auletta thinks that this makes them worthwhile and fascinating, but more often they come across as shallow and boring, if not exactly evil. This is particularly true when so much seems to ride on so little, such as whether to put Dolly Parton in slot A or slot B, or whether Dan Rather should have been fired for his six-minute gap. Still, this book is helpful because it offers some insight into how power works within public corporations. All three networks changed hands in the mid-1980s, which meant that new bosses were confronted with old patterns of behavior. Sometimes this led to showdowns in the boardroom, and even the occasional head rolling across the table, which can indeed be entertaining.
ISBN 0-394-56358-1

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