Roone Book

Anyone who needs to know why ABC became the best source of news and sports during the 70s and 80s can get their answers from this book. Roone Arledge was fighter in his belief that television news and sports at ABC could compete with the NBC and CBS, then produced shows that put ABC at the top of the rankings.



It's also so amazing that Arledge accomplished so much, even with the world of television news changing with the onset of cable news services, media mergers, vanishing dollars and the "dot.com" era. He maintained his steadfast position that in the arena of reporting the news, the emphasis was THE NEWS.



Arledge held little back in this book -- he discussed the conflicts and disagreements with ABC management and the talent that America saw on a daily basis watching the network -- Reynolds, Smith, Cosell, Jennings, Walters and Brinkley. He told us what was bad about ABC and he explained how he and the ABC went about making things better or worse. He talked of successes and he highlighted handicaps that handcuffed his efforts during days of Capital Cities and of the disease that eventually took his life.



Today's news and sports coverage on television would not be same without Roone Arledge, making this book a must read for those in the news media profession.