Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I am not an avid reader. I read books here and there. But never, never, have I bought a book and read it ALL in one day. I received this book today from Amazon at around 6pm. By 12:30 that night I read the last page. What a fantastic story. While Roger Ailes is the main focus of this boo, the author has a difficult time staying on track. He'll bring up a interesting story and then seem to go on a tangent before wrapping it up nicely at the end. While the cover of the book toutes this as how Fox beat CNN, it's more of how CNN lost it's crown. Interesting stories include Paula Zahn's exit and Greta Van Sustren's arrival. Over all quite a read for any cable news junkie. I admit I am a loyal Fox Fan, but it's still quite a take on the corporate news world's cutthroat business.

This is the story of how Roger Ailes outsmarted lots of folks to take Fox News to the top of the cable TV news business. It is also the story of how MSNBC never has been able to gain traction as a result of poor leadership and many mistakes (such as spending millions to set up a Dononhue show that was doomed to fail from the start). This book also tells the story of how Rick Kaplan badly damaged both ABC (Food Lion Special) and CNN (Valley of Death Special). The sad news of late is Kaplan is now president of MSNBC--like Peter Arnett he keeps showing up like a bad penny. I gave the book four stars because too many issues are covered superficially, because the author is too critical of Tom Johnson (a thoroughly decent person and a fine print and TV journalist) and because he fails to give proper credit to three individuals who were largely responsible for CNN's excellent coverage of the Gulf War of 1991, Ed Turner, Bob Furnad and Judy Milestone.

I would have to agree with some of my fellow reviewers here that the title, cover art and dust jacket description would lead you to believe that the book is about the rise of the Fox News channel. I assumed the book was going to be a blow by blow account of how the network was set up and the decisions that went into the make up of the channel. Well what the book really is about is the decline of CNN from number one to number two in the cable news race with a bit of the under dog reporting about the meandering and somewhat hapless MSNBC. What the book does deliver is an interesting look at the cable news business over the last ten years and just how unprepared and seemingly unable CNN and MSNBC are in competing with the new kid on the block Fox News.

What the story tells you in not so many words is that the real story here is not who is on each network reading the news or how much this or that budget was to cover any event, but that Fox News has a very clear and defined mission. They know who they are and who their audience is and that is one of the primary secrets to their success. No matter if you love them or hate them, the management team at Fox News has a bee line into the heart of their audience and they provide a product that has become indispensable to their fan base. We also learn that MSNBC is a business case in search of a message and an audience. If one of the new networks should have been the leader based on corporate synergies then it should have been the folks over at GE. What happened is a case study in chasing your tail.

Overall I found the book very enjoyable. It is written is a very readable and entertaining manner. I did not find a bias in his reporting, I think he maintained a fair review down the middle. The focus on CNN is either due to the fact that they were number one and lost the race or that they might have been more open to a reporter from the LA Times then the group over at Fox News. Either way, I do feel obligated to knock my review down one star given the inaccurate descriptions on the cover of the book. I am sure this was a marketing ploy given the popularity of Fox News, but it was dishonest all the same. If you are interested in cable news then this is a good book to get an overview of the latest battle.

In "Crazy Like A FOX" author Scott Collins apparently was capitalizing on the popularity of the Fox New Channel to sell a book about the collapse of the network newscasts, along with the rise and fall of CNN and MSNBC.

Along the way, Collins throws in some tidbits about FOX News' techniques in overpowering these news giants. But like most liberal writers, he fails to grasp the real reason for FOX's popularity: The majority of American citizens, regardless of party affiliation, are conservative and have an innate sense of fairness. These values have bled over into their news-watching habits after the FNC simply offered them an alternative.

With all that said however, I rated this book a 4-star. Mr. Collins guides the reader, in a logical and well-paced narrative, through the back alleys of the cable news business, the powerful characters involved, and the steps and missteps of the players on this world stage. Well worth your reading time.

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.

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.

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

Whenever I watch Fox news, HL Mencken's comment that "nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people" comes to mind. But while I and many others might complain that the new king of the cable television wars sins by appealing to the lowest common denominator, it is also clear that it has -- for good or for bad -- reinvented a sector less than a decade after arch-rival CNN invented it.

While the title of this book might imply that it focuses mostly on the seven-year history of Fox news, it is really about the evolution of the sector as a whole. Well documented is Fox's blatant disregard for conventions most journalists consider (or considered) beyond reproach -- above all the value of objectivity and a healthy suspicion of institutions -- but the central argument is how it forced its values on rivals CNN and MSNBC, the well-funded joint venture between Microsoft and NBC.

The book is an accessible read, well researched, objective in its take on the subject (author Scott Collins works for the Los Angeles Times, and not one of the three main players in the sector), and packed with enough information to even satisfy people in the business.

But despite all that, I think it also misses the real spark behind Fox's rise. Mr. Collins' central argument can be boiled down to a 1995 Times Mirror poll he cites that reported that while 40 percent of Americans said they were politically conservative only 5 percent of journalists did. Fox, he argues, rose up to compensate for that lopsidedness.

While that is no doubt relevant, I think it is also a simplification. I see the main difference between the pre-Fox and post-Fox worlds of news coverage not as one between circumstances in which conservatives did not have a voice and one in which they do, but instead a story about a society that is losing its empathy, its tolerance for opposing views. The arguments for why that took place are best left for another day, but if one accepts the point it becomes clear that Fox is not a cause but a symptom.

Difficult to review the book because I paid for it (not much, admittedly), but I never received it. Amazon blamed the seller. Seller blamed the PO; said these things take time, y'know. Heh heh. Two months. No book. Caveat Emptor.

This should have been called "The Rise and Fall of CNN", since Ted Turner and his network dominate the book. Fox News and MSNBC get looked at, but if you want a book mainly about Fox News, this isn't it. Still, as a news junkie myself, I found it very entertaining and informative, in fact I could hardly put it down til I plowed through the entire book. It's a bit dated (written in 2004), but having read it in 2008, it was still a very fun read.