Sunday, October 24, 2010

'She is Very Cold and Distant With the Other Bureau Staff'

Gee, who could've seen this coming?
The knives are out for Christiane Amanpour at ABC News' DC bureau. Since the ex-CNN war correspondent began anchoring "This Week" in August, she's upset some co-workers by being a "distant outsider," sources said.

"Amanpour flies into Washington on Friday and anchors the show on Sunday," an insider griped. "She reads about Washington from her Central Park apartment. It's not like other war zones that you can parachute into. She is very cold and distant with the other bureau staff."

Some resent Amanpour's friendship with Disney honcho Bob Iger and his wife, Willow Bay. Disney owns ABC. Other staffers gripe that despite her reputation as a top foreign correspondent, she doesn't have enough experience reporting on US politics.

Amanpour is said to have alienated some by spending the summer in the South of France before starting on air, requiring the show to use an interim anchor. Plus, she spent summer weekends at the DC home of Sally Quinn, an archenemy of ABC foreign correspondent Martha Raddatz, after they both planned weddings on the same day last summer for their respective children. ABC says Amanpour now stays at a hotel.

"It's so tribal at ABC because everyone else who had been angling for that job had their own constituencies," a source said. "They are all gloating over her ratings." Amanpour placed second in the 25-to-54 demo, but her overall viewership is behind NBC and CBS in the time slot.
I imagine Jake Tapper is quietly chuckling somewhere.

Thanks to Hot Air for the link.

No comments: