Word: gumbel
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...Gumbel does not believe in pursuing guests hotly either. He refers, with a touch of disdain, to the moment in 1995 when journalists were competing for an on-air interview with Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley. "Diane, Oprah, Barbara, Stone all struggled for that interview," Gumbel notes. "When one of them lands it, to what extent has his or her capacity to possibly engender the person's anger been compromised? By agreeing to be on, that person has in a sense granted the reporter a favor." He continues, "Will I make a phone call [to help secure a guest...
...unlikely he ever pretended to his bosses that he could be. If there is anything that Bryant Gumbel seems innately incapable of, it is faking sentiment. (No one has forgotten his infamous 1988 memo rightly excoriating Willard Scott's Today show antics.) That could make it especially hard for Gumbel to compete in a newsmagazine world full of melodramatic affect and a sense of false earnestness...
...essence, the success or failure of Public Eye depends on just how refreshing--or objectionable--the world finds a newsmagazine host who isn't that big on ingratiating himself with people. Gumbel's whole demeanor is that of a guy who has read The Rules (that best-selling dating guide that preaches getting love by remaining aloof) and applied them to his professional life. Interview Gumbel and you could find him telling you, politely enough, that he needs to work during your chat. Then he might type on his computer or peruse his American Express bill...
...Gumbel's tactic for dealing with the Princess Diana story, incidentally, was to call her brother, the former Today show correspondent Earl Spencer, and say, "Look, I know everybody is over there asking you to be on their shows. I just want to tell you what I'm doing. If and when you choose to speak and you want to avail yourself of the opportunity, sure, I'd love to have you on, but I'm not going to browbeat...
That sort of approach may be greatly appreciated by Spencer or any of the dozens of other wealthy and powerful personalities with whom Gumbel, like any celebrity journalist, is acquainted. But a newsmagazine cannot subsist on a diet of such interviews alone, and the truth is that the competition for guests of every stripe has become awfully fierce...