NBC insists: "Brokaw writes his own books!"

The essential Fishbowl LA website got a blast from an NBC flackette hours after they linked to our post this morning about the scholarship NBC is offering in Tom Brokaw's name, noting that Brokaw admitted in the acknowledgments to his latest bookstore release that a huge group of researchers, writers, assistants, journalists, editors and producers-- "Team Brokaw"-- assembles those generational memento gift books that are released periodically in his name.

Jenny Tartikoff (now there's a name that resonates with NBC history) spanked the Fishbowlers:

"Tom Brokaw has written all of his books
and any suggestion otherwise
is categorically untrue."

Re-e-e-a-ally?!

Jenny, the suggestion comes from Tom Brokaw! Noted journalist James Brady exposed the fraud-in-plain-sight on the Forbes site last month:

"Listen to what (Brokaw) says about the work of authoring: "'I had at the ready the best team any author could want. Liz Bowyer, the captain of the team, a tireless and persuasive interviewer; Frank Gannon, suggestions, observations, contributions, encyclopedic knowledge of the '60s; Michael Hill, fact-checker extraordinaire; Meaghan Rudy, now part of the NBC family; and John Balz, who tracked down players, facts, trends and under-reported consequences of the '60s.'

"Phew! Brokaw then thanks computer techies for keeping the machines going, and someone else who keeps in touch with him as he slaves away on the manuscripts 'in the remote regions of Montana.' Additional kudos go to a score of Random House execs and editorial people who helped with the work, as well as to Robin Rolewicz for being able to 'corral the people I interviewed into sending me their personal photographs.' Robin was 'helped in the research effort' by Carol Poticny and Abby Plesser. Tom also praises the people who edited and designed and produced the book, the lawyer who vetted it and so on. But those helpful folk work on every book. I am talking here mostly about NBC staffers and others who don't work in the book biz but were recruited for or volunteered in the Brokaw effort.

"Reading all this, I went back to Greatest Generation. Had he issued similar acknowledgments nine years ago? Yes, right up front. Elizabeth Bowyer yet again, plus a Ph.D. in history named Phil Napoli and Brokaw's research assistant at NBC News, Joan Huang, who had provided the author with 'an unending supply of stories, facts, insights and ideas.' Tommy Fine 'got the project started," Erin O'Connor, 'who runs my NBC life,' was thanked for her work. 'So many ideas came from so many places.' Among those 'places,' Boston columnist Mike Barnicle, authors Stephen Ambrose and Bill Styron, magazine editor Ellen Levine and writer/editor Kurt Anderson, who used to (with Graydon Carter) run Spy.

"Then Brokaw names colleagues at NBC who worked on the parallel TV documentary, also called The Greatest Generation. They incorporated some of Brokaw's stories in the video, but also, one hand washing the other, helped him 'get some of them [stories] on the pages of the book.' Contributions to 'his' book from the TV news side. Is that really writing, or something else?"

Another case of network newspeople lying through their capped teeth? You be the judge. And remember Jerzy Kosinski.