The Empire God Built: Inside Pat Robertson's Media Machine

Say the name Pat Robertson to ten different people and you will getten different reactions. To some, he's the televangelist host ofThe 700 Club, expounding a fundamentalist Christian philosophy. Toothers, he's a member in good standing of the American aristocracy,the son of a United States Senator and a descendent of the Duke ofMarlborough. To savvy businesspeople, he's the CEO of InternationalFamily Entertainment, a publicly traded company that owns TheFamily Channel, Mary Tyler Moore Productions, and The Ice Capades.He is a global businessman with media holdings in Asia, the UnitedKingdom, and Africa. He is the nation's number three cableoperator, behind Ted Turner and HBO. Politicians know him as thehead of the 1.7 million member Christian Coalition, widelyconsidered to be the most powerful lobbying group in the UnitedStates. Pat Robertson is all these things and more, which makes hima media mogul of astonishing wealth, power, and influence.The Empire God Built takes you inside Pat Robertson's mediamachine, from the state-of-the-art television studios andtelemarketing offices in Virginia Beach to the halls of RegentUniversity to a Manhattan Christian Coalition meeting, completewith satellite feed from headquarters. Author Alec Foege piecestogether the entire corporate puzzle, showing not only howRobertson assembled his empire, but how all the segments worktogether in pursuit of supremely ambitious goals measured by bothfiscal and political bottom lines. It is a compelling examinationof the power of television, technology, and big business, and howone man mastered all three to spread his message around theworld.There's more to Pat Robertson than meets the eye"Robertson runs his personal business in as much secrecy as the lawallows and as much obfuscation as he can create. But no one doubtshis fortune. Overnight, he and his son Tim turned a $183,000investment into $90 million." --William Prochnau and Laura Parker,Vanity Fair"A lot of advertisers really aren't even aware that Pat Robertsonchairs The Family Channel." --Jon Mandel, Senior Vice President,Grey Advertising"The Family Channel is one of the most profitable televisionchannels ever, religious or secular." --The New York Times"[Robertson] certainly [is] one of the visionaries in the [media]business." --Fred Dressler, Vice President of Programming, TimeWarner Cable"A visionary and a smart businessman." --Ken Auletta, The NewYorker"[Pat Robertson] is viewed as a very smart businessman, along withhis son Tim. Their results speak for themselves." --Jeff Sine,Morgan Stanley"He's a businessman. . . . The product he sells is religion." --EdRollins, political consultant