Customer Reviews

Katie: The Real Story

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

Edward Klein, author of "The Truth About Hillary," "The Kennedy Curse," and "Farewell Jackie," has turned his attention to one of America's most important media icons, Katie Couric, in his "Katie: The Real Story." Klein felt that there were many unanswered questions about Couric - What explained her extraordinary success in the world of morning television? Who helped her on the way to the top? - and set about to find the answers.

After two hundred interviews with both her critics and most ardent supporters, he has produced the first unauthorized biography of Couric with the claim that "Katie" was not based on a negative premise. He intended to be scrupulously fair while saying something true and important about this media icon.

The book is a tightly woven story of Couric, "America's Sweetheart," from childhood (Arlington, Virginia) to her role today as anchor for CBS Evening News. Klein's inside sources describe Katie in her early professional years as young and hungry - "one of the most ambitious women I have met."

She has abundant self-confidence, is cheerful, carefree, and fearless but is easily hurt, quick to tears, and susceptible to feelings of embarrassment and humiliation. She projects an image of a strong and independent woman but privately she is extraordinarily needy and dependent on the support of men.

Couric's father is a soft-spoken man with conservative values. He was a reporter then publicist for the National Association of Broadcasters. Katie showed her father's fascination with journalism, particularly TV journalism. He always said that the number one job was Walter Cronkite's, as anchor for CBS Evening News.

"Katie" provides plenty of background, not only on Couric's rise to the top, but also a behind the scenes look at CNN, NBC, and CBS. Klein provides little known tidbits on how Katie barely escaped from being fired by CNN, her years at CNN Headquarters, and the help she received from the CNN executive, Guy Pepper, with whom she had a long-standing affair.

Some of the juiciest tidbits of the book center on the NBC's Today Show and Couric's rise to America's Sweetheart including departure of Jane Pauley, the rise and the fall of Deborah Norville, the difficult Bryant Gumbel and his eventual dismissal, a growing rivalry with Diane Sawyer, her marital strife with husband Monahan, and her efforts to become more glamorous. Through it all, Couric transforms into a diva with all of the perceived negatives.

The book contains sixteen pages of pictures detailing Couric's life. While this is a fast read, it took some time to get through it as my wife kept taking my copy to read for herself. That is about as good a recommendation anyone can give for this book!

Edward Klein's Katie: The Real Story is a probing portrait of the multiple personas of Katie Couric -- the strong independent woman and the needy wife and lover, the grieving widow famed for her kindness to others and the fiercely competitive diva, the consummate television interviewer and the stumbling network anchor. Many critical of this book consider it to be a hatchet job and/or a whitewash. In my opinion it is neither. I view it to be a truthful, no-holds-barred portayal of a woman who used every wile she could to claw her to the top of her profession. While this can be said about many successful men as well, it doesn't make it any less true about Katie Couric. Couric never seemed to mind using her femininity to help her reap the rewards she so desparately desired. However, she was the first to cry "sexist" or "jealousy" to anyone who pointed this out in regards to CBS paying her $75+ million to be the first solo anchorwoman on a network nightly news program. Further, she never seemed to hesitate using these defensive mechanisms to counter claims about being less successful than anyone at CBS ever expected her to be. To me, and apparently to many viewers and industry experts, Couric's rapid decline from queen of morning television to the falling star of evening news is that, at heart, Couric is not an anchor person -- sober, authoritative and wise. Rather her failure to-date as a solo anchorwoman is due to those qualities that helped her meteoric rise on The Today Show -- her cuteness, funniness and girlish charm. These do not seem to be the qualities many people want when watching a "hard news" program. Klein succeeds in delivering an unflinching book about a woman who is fast to blame anyone else but herself for her lack of success in making her monumental career move. In short, Katie: The Real Story is basically a book about a woman who could not reconcile her ambition with her personality.

Working in the print media for 11+ years I found it interesting to read the possible (if true) behind the scenes look at TV journalism. I've had enough experience working for a major newspaper to know, much of this does and can happen for those who will do anything it takes to get to where they want in their career, no matter who gets sacrificed along the way. I have always been a Katie fan, even though I am extremely conservative. This book does leave you wondering who the real Katie really might be. There were many quotes from both sides..Katie fans, and not Katie fans which I would imagine have to be true if they are named and quoted. I think a lot of what was written was exactly what viewers were seeing for themselves.

I've read through the other Amazon reviews regarding `Katie: The Real Story' and I find myself surprised by two things: 1) how little the public seems to resonate with such a public figure in this forum (only 20 such reviews as of this writing) as compared to, say, Sarah Palin's `Going Rogue' (851 reviews!); and 2) how much behind the times I seem to be in responding in cyber-space to this biography.

Well, maybe there's a question here also: "What's the Big Fuss regarding Katie Couric at CBS News?" I've found her competent, forthright and dynamic, and frankly prefer her to the alternatives. And if she carries a bit of Liberal bias into her journalism, so what? Take a look at Fox and you'll find the same sort of thing from the Conservative perspective. And you'll probably find anything in between if you look about. That's one of the things I find compelling about the 21st Century - Diversity of perspective and personal Choice!

My early presumption of Mr Klein's book was that it would be more of a gossip-oriented, tell-all tabloid-styled exposé. It was the only thing I could find at the time and I had become interested in Katie's back-story and persona. But through the author's lens of a popularly focused career biography I found the work to be thoroughly researched and carefully documented, including its almost 200 interviews. Mr Klein ascribes to attempting to be scrupulously fair and I accept the book on these terms.

The biography is said to be `unauthorized,' which as defined by the author means that Ms Couric neither participated in the research of nor in the writing of the book. She refused to be interviewed or otherwise contribute or respond. In addition, she apparently encouraged family, friends and colleagues not to participate. It is intimated that she actively tried to squelch publication as well.

Mr Klein focuses on Ms Couric's professional climbing through the ranks of local television markets, television magazines and national broadcast news. If the author seems less than complimentary regarding Katie's choices, it may be because she became such an excellent student of working the system. He avers that her goals were lofty and significant enough that even romantic choices and personal behaviors were often the means to an end. That she assumed this strategy is well-supported and very persuasive. She is presented as yet one more public figure that's sometimes less than appealing under the facade of her professional image.

Tell you what though - and here's a place for continuing debate - this writer feels that even public figures have the assumption of a personal life and a basic right to privacy. How well would the common folk among us respond to such scrutiny?

I found the writing to be crisp, focused, compelling, interesting and well paced. It's a good bit of work and will fill a void until Katie (or someone else) comes back with something more substantive and `complete.'

Four Stars out of Five then.

Russell de Ville
26 December 2009

Your standard biography. Interesting reading but unmoving!

With a slight slant against his subject, the writer reveals a behind the "public persona" side of Katie with an almost "she should be ashamed of herself" attitude. Let's face it with such fierce competition against everyone of us in this world; to get to the top in any field one has to have drive & a vision! What is wrong with that? Besides, every story has two sides...every relationship, two players; neither pristine or perfect!

When shooting for a career or fulfill their dream, everybody has to make choices. Do some seem unfair or turn out to be more devastasting than we thought they might? Sure. But this is the fodder that Klein tries to use to spice this book up.

As far as I know the facts in this book are not in question and one who knows little about Couric will learn plenty. Hopefully such a person; everyone as a matter-of-fact, will be able to put the author's more salacious aspects of his writing aside & come to their own conclusion.

I loved this book. I have always wondered how Ms Couric got ahead like she has, like the CBS news contract!? My view is (and remains) that she is a lightweight and like the book says, the evening news anchor role does not have the cachet it once did, now it has been celebritised, Katie was in with a chance. We have seen the result. I have to congratulate her on her smarts in getting paid what she does, but she don't do much! The kudos she received in getting the George Bush Snr impromptu White House interview is now explained, she was prompted through her earpiece by her long time producer, Jeff Zucker. Forget allegations of sexism in the writing of this book, I have read most of Klein's books and they are well balanced. If Couric wishes to exempt herself from these allegations, she should cover up her legs, which at the age of over 50 on a nightly news broadcast, gives her no credibility. Her vanity overtakes her good sense as is pointed out in this enjoyable book, (or as we refer to it in Australia, 'Mutton dressed as lamb'!) I have more time for Matt Lauer now, having read about what he had to tolerate, Katie having "switched off" from the Today show (while still collecting her generous salary!). The only positive thing that can be said about Ms Couric is that she does have personality, but one that does not translate to conservative evening news. However, I don't think she will ever accept that, as her late husband was quoted as saying "ego, ego, ego!".

I found this to be a very compelling story about a tireless and ruthless career woman. I suppose there is nothing wrong with that, although ultimately it is a good study in how lonely life can be when one puts one's career above all else.

This is a fast and easy read.

I found this a very readable biography, and I appreciated learning more about the role her parents (particularly her father) played in her career moves. I also enjoyed getting a glimpse of the inner workings of CNN, NBC, and CBS and their respective anchors. What I concluded from this biography is that Katie's niche is not that of a serious news anchor (possibly her dad's influence to be another Cronkite) but rather something more akin to that of a talk-show host where she can use her particular gifts to the fullest.

Thanks Ed for telling the truth..........that's what journalism is all about. I wonder if the negative reviewers even bothered to read your book. Perhaps they protest too much!! All your books are fabulous,and it's obvious that you do lots of research and homework. You ought to write one about Oprah next. Keep up the wonderful work!!! I love it when writers rip off the fake veils around these famous and infamous people who come across as being something they are not. Finally the truth about 'perfect, perky Katie.'

That women are oppressed is one of our nation's greatest, and most cherished, beliefs. It also happens to be a myth. In contemporary America, to be a female is to live like a Spartan among helots. Edward Klein's new biography, Katie: The Real Story, elucidates the nature of CBS's grand dame of journalism, Katie Couric, while also documenting the way in which being a woman in our society opens widely the door of privilege.

Of course, the text itself tells only half the story. The media's bizarre reaction to this work is the other half, and provides compelling proof of our culture's bias in favor of the fairer sex. In light of the heated journalistic response, the first thing that struck me about this work was the sobriety of Mr. Klein's narrative. The author's interjections and opinions are seldom heard. The biographer allows, for the most part, those who know Ms. Couric to describe her and to reveal her psychology...which is how it should be.

In fact, the narrator impressed this reviewer as being apolitical. He outlined his subject's well-known leftist inclinations, but never once refuted her assumptions. Mr. Klein was previously employed by Newsweek and The New York Times which suggests that he may well share Ms. Couric's leftward perspective, but that no partisan viewpoint was discernible in these pages is a testament to his fairness and objectivity.

It is baffling why so many commentators were offended by Mr. Klein's depiction of Ms. Couric. Do we actually expect celebrities to be a mirror image of their PR polished personas?

I grant that the Katie we meet in The Real Story is not an admirable person, yet Klein's portrayal of her is logically sound. Ms. Couric displays personality traits which accurately correlate with the course of her development. A former colleague noted that she was "one of the most ambitious women I've ever met." In the context of her history, the assessment seems indisputable.

Destiny paired Ms. Couric's first rate ambitions with second rate talent. That is not so uncommon, but, despite marginal looks and an unserious mind, she managed to reach the top of journalism's status hierarchy. Without a reckless drive to succeed such an ascent would have been impossible.

While on The Today Show she duped millions of American women into thinking she was just like them even though her displays of perkiness and empathy were probably just an act. In one sense, however, Ms. Couric is just like them as her life was imbued with privileges known to few men. She termed her early position as a desk assistant at ABC as "the most humiliating job I ever had." The reason? She had to answer phones, make coffee, and create ham sandwiches. The horror! Only the word privilege can describe a person who regards the performance of mundane tasks as being acts of oppression.

On another occasion, she felt debased after a network executive made comments about her breasts. What is left unsaid in the account is whether she intentionally displayed them on that day. Her reaction to his statement is far from unique as being a woman in America means that you can wear whatever you want but maintain the right to become offended should a male make mention of your bared body parts.

During her first few Today Show episodes she tossed "zingers" at co-host Bryant Gumbel. The aggression was unanticipated and without cause. When Gumbel returned fire by saying something about her appearance, she cried foul and said, "I don't want too much attention paid to my looks--it's sexist."

Is it sexist to make fun of someone's physical features? Of course not. Everyone has an appearance, and if one is sensitive about the way they look then they should refrain from verbally aggressing against others. Ms. Couric's condition is a classic condition of dishing it out but not being able to take it. Political correctness, along with the elevation of women in our society, results in their being able to get away with this unjust posturing ...forever.