There were many people who made this book possible, including colleagues at The New York Times who contributed to the work that inspired it. David Enrich was our editor throughout our reporting on Les Moonves and CBS, including “ ‘If Bobbie Talks, I’m Finished’ ” and other stories that ran in the paper in 2018. He’s the perfect combination of exacting and fun. David was the first to suggest we had the makings of a book and acted as a sounding board throughout the process. We’re extremely grateful for his time, perceptive feedback, and good judgment.
Our fellow Times reporter Ellen Gabler contributed invaluable reporting to “ ‘If Bobbie Talks’ ” and was on the Moonves case from the earliest days of the #MeToo movement. Nick Summers, then-editor of the Sunday edition of The New York Times, came up with the “Bobbie” headline and steered the story into the paper.
The story would likely not have happened without Jim Windolf, then the Times’s media editor, whose direction early on led to a key source. David McCraw, the Times’s lawyer with an editor’s eye, helped us navigate legal issues and bulletproofed our work. The intrepid Times researchers Alain Delaquérière, Doris Burke, and Susan Beachy contributed to our stories, and Susan Beachy also worked with us on our book, helping us to track down the most elusive of sources and court records.
We would also like to thank the Times’s business editor Ellen Pollock, who supported our reporting and was enthusiastic about the results. The top leadership of the Times backed our reporting over the years, helping to challenge and elevate it, and allowed us to take time off to write this book. Deputy Managing Editor Matthew Purdy was especially inspiring and encouraging. We are grateful to be part of the Times’s mission, and to be surrounded by such an array of thoughtful, talented, and committed journalists.
Our colleagues on the business desk, in the Styles section, and in other bureaus and parts of the paper were generous with their guidance when we had questions. They embody the spirit of collaboration we have enjoyed while working at the Times.
Our powerhouse agent, Amanda Urban, jumped on the idea for this book the moment we brought it up and supported us at every step of the reporting, writing, editing, and publishing process. Our agent in Hollywood, Ron Bernstein, was an early and perceptive reader.
At Penguin, our editor, Ann Godoff, was our north star. This will be James’s fourth book with Ann, a staunch supporter of the highest standards of journalism and whose keen eye for a good story guided us throughout. Her assistant, Casey Denis, kept us on track. Yuki Hirose guided us through a thorough legal review, for which we’re especially grateful.
We also owe an enormous debt of gratitude to our unbelievably careful, hardworking, and well-organized fact-checker and researcher, Gabriel Joseph Baumgaertner. We wouldn’t want to think about what this process would have been like without him.
Lastly, we’d like to thank Bojan Vukadinovic, Mirza Feratovic, and the rest of the friendly staff of Wolfgang’s Steakhouse on Forty-first Street, an unofficial gathering place in the Times building. It’s where so many of us have gone over the years to celebrate, commiserate, and share the stories that we’re excited to work on a few floors above.
Writing a book during a pandemic made the support of my friends and family all the more precious and valuable, especially on the rare occasions when we could actually spend time together in person. I’m grateful to my brother, Michael; his wife, Anna; and my nephews and niece Aidan, Blaine, and Cassie; my sister, Jane Holden; her husband, John; their children, Lindsey, Laura, Jack, and Margaret, and their growing families.
My longtime friend Steve Swartz was a valuable sounding board during our frequent lunches, as was James Cramer. My friend of many years and former editor Jane Berentson taught me the importance of the telling detail, which I hope is reflected in these pages. My friends and fellow authors Sylvia Nasar and Arthur Lubow were always available to commiserate and to encourage me.
Steve Coll, the former dean of the Columbia School of Journalism; Winnie O’Kelley, dean of academic affairs; and Bill Grueskin have been valuable and supportive colleagues of mine at the journalism school.
Over the years I’ve been lucky to work with and learn from some fantastic editors: Steven Brill, Jane Amsterdam, Norman Pearlstine, Paul Steiger, Tina Brown, David Remnick, and John Bennet, my longtime editor at The New Yorker, not to mention one of the best: Alice Mayhew, the legendary Simon & Schuster editor, who died in 2020 as I was working on this book. Alice gave me my start in book publishing and was always there for me.
This is the first book I’ve written with a coauthor. I barely knew Rachel Abrams when a chance encounter in the newsroom led to “ ‘If Bobbie Talks’ ” and the beginnings of this book. Since then we’ve been in contact nearly every day. She was a dream collaborator: incredibly hard-working, resourceful, ethical, considerate, and brimming with enthusiasm for every discovery. Working with her was both inspiring and fun.
Finally, I have my husband, Benjamin Weil, to thank. Along with all the usual demands and tribulations of researching and writing a book, which alone would be more than enough, he got me (and us) through the illness, isolation, quarantines, and disruptions of the pandemic, his chicken soup always at the ready. There’s no way to repay him or to express my gratitude.
I’m very grateful to the many people who have supported me personally and professionally in three different newsrooms. Voice of America’s Mike O’Sullivan gave me my first internship, and Shalini Dore gave me my first paid job at Variety. I owe a huge debt to Variety’s Cynthia Littleton, a mentor of seemingly endless patience from whom I learned so much about reporting on the entertainment industry.
At the Times, Susanne Craig has never been too busy to help me think through a tough story, despite working on Pulitzer Prize–winning reporting about Donald Trump’s taxes. I am so thankful for Rebecca Ruiz, one of the most talented journalists I know, for her many years of friendship and wisdom. Bill Brink, Jim Windolf, David Enrich, Jason Stallman, and Kevin Flynn are the types of editors that every journalist should be lucky enough to work with.
Thank you to my friends Rachel and Adam Horne, Andrew Hearst, Bronwyn James, Mike Kellogg, Bjarni Sighvatsson, Michael Dreyfuss, Ashley Graf, Jon Spagnola, Kate Myers, Ali Mendes, and Tom Wilson for listening to me talk about this project far past the point any of you were actually interested. Thank you to Andrew Jacobs and Dan Levin for sheltering me during the height of the pandemic, and for the kindness and generosity that you have shown me and so many other people.
Jim Stewart may have ruined all future book projects for me, because I can’t imagine having a better experience than this one. Jim is a master storyteller whose reputation is belied by his grace and humility. Working with him has made me a better journalist, and I am very grateful to have had him as a partner.
Thank you to my loving family, Mike, Robyn, Carol, Erin, and Rebecca. And lastly, thank you to my wonderful parents, Ian and Alice. My father, who cocreated a television show that ran on CBS and steeped me in the media world, has basically pushed me to do a book since I learned to walk. He is a brilliant writer and has been an invaluable sounding board on this project. And to my extraordinary mother, who worked in a newsroom and elsewhere in a very different era, and who pushed and endured so that I might see more dignity and respect in my lifetime.