They ask whether it's cost effective. There are whole parts of the world we don't cover because it's not cost effective. But no sooner does Auletta build up a head of steam than he's off describing how networks sell advertising, or how they deal with affiliates, or how Brandon Tartikoff schedules prime-time shows by moving little magnetized cards around on a metal board. It's probably unfair to criticize an author for being too ambitious, but at times Three Blind Mice bites off more than even the most ardent reader may want to chew. This elevated concept become The Nightingale, a program so embarrassingly bad that it lasts only a few weeks.
News is treated with roughly the same respect.
Other anecdotes make for disturbing reading. Tisch, a staunch supporter of Israel, was so enraged by a 60 Minutes report on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that he refused to talk to Mike Wallace, and, at a dinner party, is reported to have said that television cameras should be banned from the occupied West Bank because they incited Palestinian riots and cast Israel policies in a bad light. And he's such a scrupulous reporter that he shares conflicting versions with the reader, rather than posing as omniscient. Tom, if ever you left CBS you wouldn't have to work another day in your life. The larger lesson in this drama is that the networks are like American auto manufacturers of the 1970s, happily churning out schlock products while cable, syndicated shows, VCRs, and other forms of entertainment steadily erode their market share.