posted on September 9, 2004 08:45:01 PM new
Kitty Kelley Publisher Seeks Damages
Publisher of Kitty Kelley's Controversial Biography of Bush Family Seeks Damages From Newsweek
The Associated Press
NEW YORK Sept. 9, 2004 — The publisher of Kitty Kelley's controversial new biography of the Bush family has accused Newsweek of allegedly violating a prepublication agreement and said the magazine owed "substantial damages."
"We demand public acknowledgment and additional remedies," Stephen Rubin, president and publisher of the Doubleday Broadway Publishing Group, said Thursday. Rubin declined to say how much money Doubleday was seeking and whether the publisher would sue.
Newsweek spokeswoman Rosanna Maietta said Thursday that the magazine had no comment.
Kelley's "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty" comes out next Tuesday.
A letter sent this week to Newsweek editor Mark Whitaker cited a signed confidentiality agreement reached in August in which the magazine promised not to disclose details of the book before publication. Newsweek was to receive an early copy.
According to the letter, Newsweek violated the terms when correspondent Howard Fineman appeared on Don Imus' radio show Tuesday and "disparaged" the book, saying the magazine would not publish excerpts because of questions about Kelley's reporting. The letter also noted a Washington Post report that Newsweek had decided not to run an advance story on "The Family," citing similar concerns. The magazine had allegedly promised such an article.
"In reliance upon such representations, Doubleday turned down an offer from Newsweek's major competitor (Time) to publish a news story," reads the letter from Katherine Trager, general counsel for Random House, Inc., of which Doubleday is a division. "This flagrant disregard of basic principles governing the prepublication review of books is unprecedented" and entitles Doubleday and Kelley to "substantial damages."
Kelley's book has already reached the top 10 on Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com amid reports, and denials, of cocaine use by President Bush. The initial printing of 600,000 has been increased twice, to 722,500.
"I would say yes, the controversy has increased interest in her book," Rubin said.
Kelley, 62, is known for writing gossipy best sellers on Elizabeth Taylor, Frank Sinatra and Nancy Reagan, whom she alleged had an affair with Sinatra while she was first lady.
Reports emerged earlier this week that Kelley's new book includes an allegation that George W. Bush used cocaine at Camp David while his father was president. A White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, has said the book is "filled with garbage." Sharon Bush, former wife of the current president's brother, Neil Bush, was cited by Kelley as the source for the cocaine story. Sharon Bush denies ever making such an allegation.
"The one time I met with Kitty Kelley in person, she mentioned drug use at Camp David. I responded by saying something along the lines of: 'Who would say such a thing?'" Sharon Bush said in a statement released Tuesday by her Houston attorney, David Berg.
"Although there have been tensions between me and various members of the Bush family, I abhor the inaccuracies[b].[b] I can only repeat that I never said what Miss Kelley has written I said, and I never saw the activities that she describes."
Doubleday released a statement Wednesday saying that the publisher "stands fully behind the accuracy of Ms. Kelley's reporting, and believes that everything she attributes to Sharon Bush in her book is an accurate account of their discussions."
posted on September 9, 2004 09:01:22 PM new
So I see the board queen has responded. Evidentually you didn't read it. But then if you don't read you would never know about Kitty Kelley and her unauthorized biographies of Hollywood stars. Her reporting is worse than the National Enquirer.
