I was inspired by the stories that Brokaw told in “The Greatest Generation,” but I remember thinking: did anyone actually edit this, or did the publisher simply slap a cover around the manuscript. The book is poorly written, and in some respects it does the veterans a disservice, because in more capable hands, their stories would have been even more moving.
One thing is certain: “The Greatest Generation” removed any doubt about Brokaw writing his own scripts at NBC. I’m guessing Tom—like most of the TV news stars—spent much of his time engaged in other pursuits, showing up in the studios for any required blocking or rehearsals, and for the actual broadcast.
In the early days of satellite TV, you could pick up the network feeds associated with putting together their evening newscasts. It was rare to see an anchor in the newsroom for any length of time before the broadcast. All the “heavy lifting” was being done by the producers, editors, writers and the technical crew. All of the anchors claimed the mantle of “managing editor” or some title that suggested they shaped the content of their newscast. In virtually every case, they were nothing more than readers.
I don’t know if you remember, but at the tail end of the Kinko’s scandal involving of docs related to George W. Bush’s, which led to Dan Rather’s retirement, Dan Rather in the final defense of his actions finally admitted that he “only” read what was placed in front of him.
And in the Amazon reader reviews of Tom Brokaw’s book we are discussing, out of 564 reviews, only 221 give it five stars and 80 give it one star. In comparison, Donna Tartt’s latest novel, number 1 on the bestseller list has 2851 reviews, of which 243 give it one star.