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Brian Stelter

Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV Paperback – November 5, 2019

by Brian Stelter (Author)

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CNN correspondent Brian Stelter reveals the dark side of morning television with exclusive material about current and past morning stars, from Matt Lauer to Katie Couric.

When America wakes up with personable and charming hosts like Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos, it's hard to imagine their show bookers having to guard a guest's hotel room all night to prevent rival shows from poaching. But that is just a glimpse of the intense reality revealed in this gripping look into the most competitive time slot in television.

Featuring exclusive content about all the major players of the 2000s, Top of the Morning illuminates what it takes to win the AM -- when every single viewer counts, tons of jobs are on the line, and hundreds of millions of dollars are at stake. Stelter is behind the scenes as Ann Curry replaces Meredith Vieira on the Today show, only to be fired a year later in a fiasco that made national headlines. He's backstage as Good Morning America launches an attack to dethrone Today and end the longest consecutive winning streak in morning television history. And he's there as Roberts is diagnosed with a crippling disease -- on what should be the happiest day of her career.

So grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and discover the dark side of the sun.

Praise for Top of the Morning
"Mr. Stelter pulls back the curtains and exposes a savage corporate world that might have been inhabited by the Sopranos." -- Washington Times

"A troubling look inside an enterprise as vicious and internecine as a soap opera." -- Kirkus Reviews

Print length

352 pages
Language

English
Publication date

November 5, 2019
Dimensions

6.1 x 1.15 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1538734958
ISBN-13

978-1538734957
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Brian Stelter is the senior media correspondent for CNN and host of the show Reliable Sources. He was previously a staff writer at the New York Times and was featured as a subject in the New York Times documentary Page One. Before joining the Times in 2007, he was the founder and editor of TVNewser, the pre-eminent blog about the television news industry, which was sold to MediaBistro in 2004.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing; Reissue edition (November 5, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 352 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1538734958
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1538734957
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 1.15 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #881,994 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #487 in TV Shows
- #1,320 in Television Performer Biographies
- #3,074 in Communication & Media Studies

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4.0 508 ratings

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Brian Stelter

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Brian Stelter is the New York Times bestselling author of three books: Top of the Morning, Hoax, and Network of Lies. Previously, Stelter was a media reporter at The New York Times, the chief media correspondent for CNN Worldwide, and the anchor of Reliable Sources. He is currently a special correspondent for Vanity Fair and a Walter Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. Stelter is a producer on the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, which is inspired by his first book Top of the Morning. He also executive produced the HBO documentary After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children. Follow him on Twitter @BrianStelter.

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4 out of 5

508 global ratings

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Insightful

Reviewed in the United States on April 30, 2023

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First of all, I have to admit I never watch morning tv. Why then did I read this book? Well, Brian Stelter write a book about FOX news that was interesting , so I figured I'd give this a try. It was very informative about the cutthroat world of morning tv, to quote the title. A lot has changed since this book was written...I'd like to read a follow-up.

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LEH

A tale of two audiences

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2013

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I'd imagine that there are two distinct audiences for Brian Stelter's new book, Top of the Morning, and I'd think they'd have very different reactions.

The first audience, of which I consider myself a member, might be called the "media insider crew". Not only comprised of media professionals (I am not one), this audience consists of those who, perhaps like Mr. Stelter did years ago, rush to consume any media about the media. This audience would no doubt already be intimately familiar with the saga of Ann Curry's departure from Today, due to Joe Hagan's article, Howard Kurtz's interview, and Mr. Stelter's book adaptation in the New York Times Magazine last Sunday. This audience would have cut its teeth on the classics of the genre such as "The War for Late Night" and "The Late Shift".

The second audience might be called the "Barnes & Noble crew". This audience would consist of those who might spot the book at their local bookstore and think, "A book about morning TV! I love GMA! Let's check it out."

As I mentioned, these two audiences will, in my opinion, have very different reactions.

Let's start with the Barnes & Noble crew. If you're in this group, you'll be fascinated. The book reads like a person-to-person discussion of the goings-on in morning TV. Booking wars, job interview lunches, control room conversations. The tone is conversational, the content free-flowing and organized in somewhat of a stream-of-consciousness manner. Reading this might indeed convert some in this audience to the other group and get them as hooked on media inside information as Mr. Stelter himself is.

Now the media insider crew. Here, the reaction might be more mixed. Due to the Today show articles mentioned above, much of the Curry situation has already been reported. To be sure, Stelter ties it together in a complete manner which has not yet been done, but many in this audience thrive on tidbits, not story, as can be seen by some of the book review "here are the juicy bits" articles that came out today. Are there new tidbits about Curry? Certainly, but not many of the bombshell variety, and even those were released already in the NYT Magazine piece.

However, the redeeming quality for this group will certainly be the GMA coverage. Robin Roberts' illness was (sadly) overshadowed by the Today family dysfunction, and how Roberts even got the position has never been fleshed out. Stelter's book shines in this area, giving GMA, the current ratings leader, the storyline it has long deserved.

Stelter's style is not the same as Bill Carter's. Carter employs a narrative line, while Stelter's reads perhaps more like one of his Times articles. When Carter says "Zucker was faced with a dilemma", the savvy reader will realize that this means Zucker TOLD Carter that he'd been faced with a dilemma. Stelter's book would word this, "'I was faced with a dilemma', Zucker told me." My own preference leans towards Carter's style, with the narrator absent from the proceedings. However, as Stelter explains, his own reporting even affected the events in the book, so perhaps his style is warranted here.

In short - if this is your entrypoint into 'media about the media', enjoy! And you will. If you, like me, downloaded this to your Kindle at midnight last night, you may even want to read the GMA section first. The book is worth it for that alone, and you'll enjoy reading the rehashing of the Today show debacle as only Stelter can tell it. A section about "Morning Joe" is also particularly interesting and fresh. A book that straddles both of these audiences is not easy to pull off, but Stelter's done just that.

54 people found this helpful

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Jeffrey Swystun

Content, Personality and Entertainment

Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2013

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I am not exactly sure why this story and book interested me. I am not usually drawn to soap operas or reality TV or gossipy topics. In short, I am not a fan of the type of programming that The Today Show, Good Morning America, or This Morning feed the masses. It actually amazes me that millions tune into a big network show that replays YouTube videos of waterskiing squirrels and covers the Casey Anthony and Amanda Knox cases ad nauseum.

These morning shows are equal parts content, personality, and entertainment. And there is a universal tension at all times between the three. That must explain the layers of management that exists at NBC to oversee The Today Show. Granted, these shows are big brands representing big money so oversight is needed. However, what author Stelter's book truly proves for me is how subjective the entire enterprise truly is.

The audience, including myself, reacts in a highly subjective manner to the morning personalities delivering news and info-tainment in a folksy, friendly manner. The result is so plastic that it is incredible people tune in at all. Morning show management subjectively chooses the content, the personalities and format based on ratings that they frequently discount. It is all very unscientific and contradictory.

Top of the Morning largely covers Ann Curry's ouster. I was for that before she even started. Speaking subjectively (because that is the theme of this review), I felt Curry "was out of position" long before a NBC memo said it was so. Stelter pulls no punches on providing evidence of Curry's "Sheer badness as a broadcaster". He catalogues "frequent faux pas", her disingenuousness, the weird whisper talking, the trying too hard and became more grating as a result, and that she lacked self-awareness. Surprising is the contention that she was very ambitious - "ego-driven and career consumed". Personally (and subjectively) I saw something vacant or scary in her eyes and expressions. The author writes of the "unsettling ambiguous look in her beautiful Bambi-like eyes".

I puzzled over Currey's Twitter account bio that reads, "Journalism is an act of faith in the future." Her own casting as a cross between Edward R. Murrow and Christiane Amanpour was never credible. Yet, she had a fan club because it walked away from The Today Show in large numbers. This boggles my mind but each to their (subjective) own. I would never attend an Ann Curry Fan Club Jamboree...all those big vacant eyes and barely audible conversations would creep me out.

It was interesting reading about GMA that is termed the "fluffy" morning option. That is concerning given how The Today Show is extremely fluffy now. Interestingly, both Matt Lauer and Curry voiced their own displeasure over how their show had become "pop-culture news". One thing I could not really abide on GMA was the use of Robin Robert's sad illness. That was and is a visceral huge turnoff.

Continuing with subjectivity I find replacement Savannah Guthrie a bland brand and Nathalie Morales a scared and never entirely comfortable presence. I keep waiting for Morales to knock over a glass out of nervousness. Both are pleasant enough but seem devoid of substance. As to Matt Lauer, it is not entirely clear how culpable he is in Curry's removal but it does prove that it cannot be The Matt Lauer Show. Al Roker is probably the sharpest player disguising himself as an affable everyman.

Stelter's book is factual and well written but I wished I had not read the long reviews and coverage ahead of time. As a result, the book was only a lengthy confirmation of the commonly known conclusions. Somewhere along the way The Today Show forgot that the enemy is on the outside and they rested on their laurels. The tweaking of content, personality, and entertainment is their daily chore but for too long they went into work without adjusting the dials.

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Top reviews from other countries

Marion B.

Very Good!

Reviewed in Canada on June 13, 2013

Verified Purchase

I thought this book was a very interesting look into the behind the scenes working of major TV networks, especially, of course, the politics and back stabbing that goes on in the world of the morning shows. I always liked Anne Currie and was disappointed when she was so rudely replaced. Used watch NBC Today all the time, I have now switched to ABC!

Joan Sims

Good Book

Reviewed in Canada on June 13, 2013

Verified Purchase

I bought "Top Of The Morning" and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I might read it again. Good book.

Joan

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