Auletta,K. Three Blind Mice. 1991
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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