Crazy Like a Fox: The Inside Story of How Fox News Beat CNN

by Scott Collins

Book Overview

How brutal is the cable news business? When Fox News CEO Roger Ailes learned that Paula Zahn was negotiating with archrival CNN, Ailes fired Zahn immediately. When a reporter pointed out that Zahn had... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591840295
• ISBN13: 9781591840299
• Release Date: April 2004
• Publisher: Portfolio
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

CNN just doesn't get it;...nor do they even care!

Right off the bat,I think the publishing date of this book is important. It was published in April,2004 and that is a relatively a long time ago for a book of this nature;and on top of that had to be written sometime before that. Therefore anything in the book is 4 years ago or longer. In a world where events , communications and technology are moving so fast,sometimes the old maxim ,"It's hard to see the forest for the trees",sure applies. For that reason,I believe reading this book now,really shows how well the author analyzed the subject. The title and line on the cover is misleading. It is more about CNN than Fox.A book like this should ,just like the news,be as free from bias as possible.If not free,then at least balanced. That cannot be said about this book. If you look at the background of the author;you see he has a strong Liberal leaning and it comes through over and over again throughout the book. It is evident where the author discusses, on page 192 and 192 ,that Phil Donahue had a homey reassurance,was ernest and nonthreatning,an unmistakable liberal "bent",with frequent guests like Jesse Jackson,Ralph Nader and Gloria Steinmen;but that his show featured a less than stirring debate with a conservative firebrand Pat Buchanan.He doesn't use the same sort of name calling when talking about ,as Hannity would say,"his Liberal friends". In the early days,CNN had the "Jump"on the competition in News Chanels,for the simple fact that there was no competition.As a matter of fact ,I enjoyed CNN in the early days,especially in world coverage. However, as time went on,this success was taken for granted as a birth right and then we really saw the Chanel take on the left wing,European favoring,UN admiring,US bashing,agendae.The disappointment of their leader,Clinton desecrate the office of President.Bush's election,and the Government's necessity to deal with Teeorism,left them full of hate.Since that time,the liberal left became obsessed with hate so much that any success, internationally or domestically ,angered and disappointed them.They went looking for bad news wherever possible and ignored, or at best glossed over anything positive.Unfortunately ,since the mainstream media is heavily weighted with people of liberal bias ,that is where it went;and CNN lead the way and still does. The liberal left idea that everyone hates Bush, everyone around the world hates America,Europe is much more enlightened than America,any conservative thought is objectionable and only their ideas are worth discussing,prevailed. The concept of fair and balance,is totally foreign to them. Enter Fox,with differing points of view,and you have competion in the world of ideas.And Lo and Behold!,not everybody who does not agree with the left,find Fox serves them better than CNN. This is the point that the author, intentionally or not, misses in this book.Whether the left understand this or not,it seems that they victims of of something or other, and its got to be the

The rise of a news station

The spectacular rise of CNN has been put off by a newer story of Fox News. The Fox news phenomena are discussed here and their rise from taking Greta Van Sustran to Neil Cavuto is explained. While I think they downplay the significance of the second gulf war in really capturing ratings the author does a great job otherwise of tracking fox news rise. Whether you love them or hate them this is a fair and balanced look at how one of the most powerful news agencies today came into being.

Interesting

This book was interesting. It brought up many behind-the-scenes things that you rarely see or read about. Best of all, it was done without a lot of flair or exaggeration (too many books lately are swinging for the fences with how they can make things larger than life). The author remains fairly objective and writes in a style that is informative and easy to read. Put it on your list.

Compelling and smart

A terrific book! One of the most insightful and intelligent books about the media in a long time. Author Collins knows how to get to the heart of the matter, understanding that the battle between Fox News and its rivals is more than just a simple flat recounting of dull statistics and rating points and was more importantly a story of human follies involving jealousies, incompetence, bitter rivalries and cutthroat opportunism. Breezy without being lightweight and detailed without becoming heavy handed, Crazy Like A Fox is smart, funny and compelling from beginning to