Prime Times, Bad Times

By Ed Joyce

Book Overview

An insider expos that goes behind the scenes at CBS News to reveal the dramatic struggles that shaped The CBS Evening News and The CBS Morning News

Behind the polished fa ade of network news lies a world of ambition, rivalry, and high-stakes power plays. In Prime Times, media executive Ed Joyce takes readers inside the executive suites of CBS News, chronicling a turbulent era that tested the integrity of one of America's most trusted institutions.

From bitter internal conflicts and takeover threats to sweeping budget cuts and mass layoffs, this fly-on-the-wall account exposes the personal and professional battles that defined a turning point in broadcast journalism. Set against the lingering legacy of Edward R. Murrow, Prime Times is a must-read for anyone fascinated by the forces behind the news we watch every day.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385261020
• ISBN13: 9780385261029
• Release Date: February 1989
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 576 Pages
• Weight: 1.64 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Insider's Subjective Account

It seems to be a common desire that once a person leaves a media organization, he or she wants to give a personal account of the "inside" view following the severing of the ties. That's the genre for this book. In February 1986 Joyce tendered his letter of resignation to Gene Jankowski. He begins his tale of the events leading up to that action by first describing the early years of the organization he left, CBS. "CBS News consistently measures itself by its past" he writes. He talks about the "glory days" of Edward R. Murrow and the "handful of young men" who created broadcast news from scratch, with no model to follow.It is hard to comprehend how corporate decisions are made. Dan Rather inherited a prestigious news organization as far as ratings were concerned. While his performance has kept the network at or near the cellar the entire time he's been in the anchor slot, he seems arrogantly secure in his position. Joyce points out that both inside CBS and outside there was concern when Walter Cronkite announced he was stepping down, that Rather did not have the qualities necessary for the anchor slot. It was assumed Roger Mudd would be next in line to replace Cronkite. Subsequent ratings all these decades later showed Joyce's observation at the time was correct. Evidently the decision-makers at CBS have an agenda other than public preference.There are other glimpses of the inner workings of CBS during the 1980s. For anyone still interested in CBS, perhaps better phrased, for anyone interested in corporate bureaucracy this book is full of examples of decisions that were not always the most logical.