Katy Couric and Diane Sawyer battled fiercely while both were anchors of major network news programs.
The upcoming book “The News Sorority,” by journalist Sheila Weller, outlines the rise of three respected and very competitive newswomen Couric, Sawyer and CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
The Daily Beast apparently got their paws on a copy of the book, which comes out Sept. 30 on Penguin Press. The website reported there’s some surprising revelations inside, especially when discussing Couric and Sawyer fighting each other for exclusive interviews.
When Sawyer beat Couric for the exclusive interview with a 57-year-old woman who gave birth to twins, Couric supposedly blurted, “I wonder who she (expletive) this time to get it.”
Well, now I’m sort of wondering, too.
Weller wrote that ABC News veteran Sawyer threatened to cut off a friend who was approached by Couric for an interview for NBC’s “Today.”
“When a friend of Diane’s, a public figure, was being pursued by Katie’s people, the wooed eminence got a call from (Diane’s husband, director) Mike Nichols, who said — in a very nice way, to be sure — that he and Diane would essentially cut off all social contact if their friend appeared on ‘Today.'”
A source friendly with both Sawyer and Couric reportedly told the Huffington Post, “It’s unfortunate that the author would choose to alienate her core audience for the book by playing up the alleged catfight between these two very accomplished women.”
Yeah. Too bad. I’m sure no one will want to read it now.
Contact Tony Hicks at Facebook.com/BayAreaNewsGroup.TonyHicks or Twitter.com/tonyhicks67.
