Truly fascinating

Howard Kurtz, I am now certain, has a secret. Either he no longer sleeps, or he has found a way to expand the day. How else can one explain his exceptional output?

For the past 17 years, Kurtz has been the media reporter for The Washington Post. He also writes a long media blog, anchors CNN's "Reliable Sources" and frequently offers his opinions on the radio. And in his "spare time," he has written five books,

His newest book, "Reality Show," takes you inside the minds and the newsrooms of the three major evening news anchors -- a 464-page, sound-bite-by-sound-bite report on ABC's Charles Gibson, CBS' Katie Couric and NBC's Brian Williams during a time of political crisis at home and war in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is a period of "daunting transition," Kurtz writes, not only because these anchors replaced the Tom-Peter-and-Dan troika that dominated the airwaves for a quarter of a century but also because they are battling technological and economic challenges that are transforming the industry. It is a fascinating story.

Clearly, Kurtz knows the players -- the anchors, the producers, the network presidents. "I enjoyed an extraordinary degree of access to journalists and executives at all levels," he says. And he takes full advantage of his access by quoting them extensively, even in private conversations between a husband and a wife, and enriching his narrative with intimate insights and little-known facts.

But, interestingly, Kurtz never directly sources any quote, any thought. His "Notes," or footnotes, run only four pages, a slender addition to a fat book, and nowhere does he refer to any of his earlier stories or books. Following in Bob Woodward's footsteps, Kurtz assumes the reader will understand that if he is quoting Couric, he talked to her; and if he is quoting the intricacies of a confidential contract negotiation, he spoke to "one or more of the participants."

The reader has to take Kurtz at his word. Though "Reality Show" in places has the feel of a novel, it is nonfiction written by a trusted reporter, who has earned his stripes in this craft.

What Kurtz covers in this book, he has already covered in his dispatches -- Rather's humiliation after his controversial 2004 story about President Bush's National Guard service; Schieffer's role as interim savior of "The CBS Evening News"; the endless transition from Brokaw to Williams on NBC; Gibson's relentless quest for Jennings' spot at ABC; and the courtship of Couric away from NBC to CBS.

These are all absorbing tales. But what especially attracted my attention while reading Kurtz's well-written report were two aspects of television news -- one dealing with the anchor's awkward relationship to the White House and the president, which Kurtz covers in intriguing detail, and the other dealing with the economic and technological underpinning of the TV industry, which he addresses only tangentially.

Theoretically, in a nation that prides itself on the separation of church and state, of the media and the administration, there would be no question about keeping the anchor and the president in separate rooms. The more distance, the better. Not so, apparently. Kurtz writes about how the White House skillfully manipulates their competitive juices and egos by rationing access to the president, thus buying favor, or at least understanding.

Even though Williams sharply criticized the administration's botched handling of the New Orleans disaster, he had become "the president's favorite anchor." Whenever they met, Bush peppered him with questions. According to Dan Bartlett, a former presidential adviser, Bush said, "I can do business with him." The president and the anchor discussed their reading habits, among other things -- Bush, believe it or not, telling the anchor that he had been reading Camus' "The Stranger," and Williams recommending that he read a new LBJ biography.

Kurtz obviously decided to focus on the problems and personalities of the anchors rather than on the basic changes now transforming the industry, and this is a shame. Maybe in his next book Kurtz will decide that he can make economics and technology as compelling as his story of the new anchors.