After Breitbart News reported on Monday that Gabriel Sherman, the author of a forthcoming screed against Roger Ailes and Fox News, had his book’s publication date pushed back to January of 2014, two sources close to Sherman’s project, as well as Pat Caddell, commented to Breitbart News about the possible reason for the delay.
One source close to the project told Breitbart News that Sherman “first contacted me in the Fall of 2011” and mentioned “Christmas 2012” as his expected publication date.
“That was an ambitious timeline, but made sense; after all, a book on Fox is not ‘War and Peace,'” the source said.
The first source said the publication date then “slipped to May of ’13, and I began to think to myself, ‘Gee, he’s having trouble getting it done.'”
“And now we’re hearing ‘early ’14’ for publication,” the first source said. “I can only conclude that he must be having real trouble getting his manuscript done–either because of writer’s block, or else because the lawyers are demanding rewrites. Not a good sign. Random [House] must be freaking.”
Another source close to the project told Breitbart News that when the source “first heard from Mr. Sherman, it was obvious that he was trolling for dirt on Roger and Fox.”
“And not only that, he was trolling for dirt on Mrs. Ailes, and the Ailes family, and, in particular, the newspaper she runs upstate,” the second source said. “I don’t think it’s right to bring the family into Mr. Sherman’s book, and in addition, I don’t particularly think anybody cares about small-town newspaper stuff.”
The source added, “I can’t help but compare Mr. Sherman to Brian Stelter of the [New York] Times. Mr. Stelter’s book on the network morning shows and their rivalry seems to focus on the dramatis personae–Matt Lauer, Ann Curry, Jeff Zucker, Jim Bell, et al.”
Stelter just released a book about the personalities behind the morning television ratings wars.
“Those are interesting people, that people have heard of. That’s the TV book to read–because it’s about TV,” the second source said. “I am afraid that Mr. Sherman has found himself lost in the modern day equivalent of Sleepy Hollow.”
What these sources describe is consistent with Pat Caddell’s most recent dealings with Sherman.
The top-level Democrat who was one of President Jimmy Carter’s chief advisers and strategists lit into Sherman recently after a series of run-ins. Those interactions led Caddell to accuse Sherman of “cluelessness,” “laziness,” and “incompetence.”
Given his experience with Sherman, Caddell was not surprised when Breitbart News contacted him for comment about Sherman’s book being pushed back to January.
“It appears that my thought that Random House might find Gabe Sherman’s efforts an embarrassment may have been borne out,” Caddell told Breitbart News.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.