A former TV producer is spilling secrets about America's most famous news anchors in an explosive new memoir.
Ira Rosen, who has worked at 60 Minutes and 20/20 over the span of four decades, makes several scathing assessments in his tome Ticking Clock, set for release on February 16.
Rosen brands Diane Sawyer as 'two-faced', Katie Couric as 'lazy' and 'Chris Cuomo as 'entitled' in excerpts of the book obtained by The New York Post.
The Emmy Award winning producer also reveals a secret rivalry between Sawyer and her female co-anchor Barbara Walters, as well as a bitter yearlong feud between father and son newsmen Mike and Chris Wallace.
Rosen began his career in the TV news business back in 1980 when he landed a job at 60 Minutes.
There, he began a fractious long-term professional partnership with co-anchor Mike Wallace.
Wallace was regarded as one of the top TV journalists in the world, but Rosen claims that the anchor 'seemed to define his life by how much trouble he could cause'.
According to The Post, Wallace 'was notorious for his 'Neanderthal behavior' toward women, snapping their bra straps and slapping their bottoms.'
Rosen writes that one female produced even smacked Wallace across the face after an alleged advance.
Meanwhile, Wallace reportedly relished picking fights with his co-workers, regularly stealing stories from fellow anchors Ed Bradley and Morley Safer.
'Months would go by in which Safer would not speak to Wallace, even though their offices were next door to each other,' Rosen writes.
According to Rosen, Wallace also stole stories from his own son, Chris, who has now become a famed TV news anchor in his own right.
In 1997, Chris Wallace reportedly secured an interview with comedian Chris Rock while he was working at ABC.
However, Mike Wallace allegedly lured Rock into doing the interview with him over on 60 Minutes, telling the comedian that his show had better ratings than his son's.
Rosen says the younger Wallace was so hurt by his father's move that they did not speak for an entire year.
Meanwhile, Rosen also worked closely with Diane Sawyer, and describes her in his new memoir as 'two-faced'.
'If she was overly friendly and began to kiss you on the cheeks to say hello, chances are she was trashing you behind your back,' Rosen writes.
Sawyer worked at ABC alongside Barbara Walters, where the pair publicly professed their admiration for one another.
But behind the scenes, the two were often far from friendly, according to Rosen.
He writes that, in one instance, Sawyer smiled as she greeted Walters before entering an elevator and stating: 'I hate that woman. Don't believe a word she says. She knifes me any chance she gets'.
The two women were paired together to host a 20/20 Sunday at ABC in the late 1990s, but the situation reportedly devolved as they competed over who got the most airtime.
'They even counted the number of words each one had, introducing the stories. It was a total disaster,' Rosen claims.
Meanwhile, in 2003, Rosen met Chris Cuomo, who had begun working at ABC.
The New York Post reports that Rosen found Cuomo 'entitled' and displaying 'caustic arrogance'.
Cuomo's father once served as Governor of New York, and his famous surname no doubt helped contribute to his confidence.
Rosen - who by that point had acquired two decades of experience in the news business - was asked to help mentor Cuomo, who was new to industry.
But Cuomo allegedly greeted Rosen by stating: 'I understand that you are my new b***h.' '
'He lost me at hello,' Rosen writes in his tome.
But, perhaps, Rosen reserves his most scathing assessment for Katie Couric, who worked at 60 Minutes from 2006 - 2011.
'[Couric was] lazy and disengaged, and thought she was smarter than all of us. She wasn't,' he tartly writes.
He claims Couric opted for softball questions while interviewing Hillary Clinton as she ran for president in 2008.
The decision angered Rosen, who was producing the segment.
'I kept thinking, 'For this, they are paying Katie $15 million a year?' he writes.
Rosen is still working in the news business at the age of 66, and appears to thrive on the behind-the-scenes drama and the antics of America's most famous anchors.
THANKS SO MUCH,, IT MEANS THE WORLD TO US IN THESE DIFFICULT TIMESֱ
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