Posted on 07/30/2002 5:57:38 PM PDT by Hillary's Lovely Legs
Live 'GMA' Miner Talk Startles NBC's Couric Peter Johnson USA TODAY
Tempers flared Monday between top-rated Today anchor Katie Couric and producer Jonathan Wald after No. 2 ABC's Good Morning America landed the only live interview Monday with one of the nine coal miners rescued from a mine in Pennsylvania.
Couric, who thought she was about to interview miner Dennis Hall, had some pointed words for Wald when she learned Hall would be talking instead to GMA's Diane Sawyer.
Wald, whose relationship with the $15-million-a-year anchor has run hot and cold during his 14 months at the helm, snapped back.
Later in the day, Wald said Today thought that Hall would talk to both Today and GMA, but that Hall changed his mind at midnight on Sunday.
"Katie had every right to ask what happened. It was her interview," Wald said.
"But if anyone was frustrated it was me. I will admit not liking it when a guest backs out."
GMA chief Shelley Ross said that a producer, whom she would not name, "spent many hours" with Hall's family while rescuers worked to free him and eight other miners.
Ross said that when Hall finally met the producer, he said, " 'I guess I could do one' " interview.
Cable news continued to fixate on the story throughout Monday and into the talk shows Monday night.
"I love this story," said Fox News' Greta Van Susteren, who aired Monday's On the Record live from Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center in Johnstown, Pa., where three hospitalized miners spoke at a news conference that Fox News, CNN and MSNBC carried live earlier in the day.
"The news was so grim - not hearing from them, hypothermia. Nothing sounded good. It was so horrible. And then all the cards just fell the right way. It was such a great ending," Van Susteren said.
The nation and the media were ready for a story with a good ending, Wald said, especially after a summer of uncontrollable forest fires and, more recently, a spate of child kidnappings. "To have this incredible human drama and people fighting the odds, to have it come out the way it did, the way everybody hoped for, captured everybody's imagination," he said.
As it typical with any big news story - but especially one that involves people triumphing over incredible adversity - pitches for dramas based on the real-life events in Pennsylvania over the past days are making the rounds in Hollywood.
"Whenever there is an event of this significance with a happy, inspirational ending, we usually receive movie pitches from the creative community," said CBS spokesman Chris Ender. "This case is certainly no different."
If he won't bow to Queen Perkette, why should he roam in the sun?
Queen Perkette does have an attitude, wonder how long the suits will put up with it. ?
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