Bill Carter is an American author and former media reporter at The New York Times, renowned for his in-depth coverage of the television industry over a career spanning more than two decades. He specialized in breaking stories about network television executives, ratings battles, and industry shifts, including the rise of cable news and reality TV, often drawing from insider sources to reveal behind-the-scenes dynamics. Carter authored the bestselling book 'The Late Shift: Letterman, Leno, and the 11:35 PM Slot War' (1994), which detailed the high-stakes battle between Jay Leno and David Letterman to succeed Johnny Carson as host of NBC's late-night show and was adapted into a 1996 HBO film. He also wrote 'Desperate Networks' (2006), chronicling the leadership struggles and programming revolutions at ABC, CBS, and NBC during the early 2000s, and contributed to books like 'I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution' (co-authored, 2014). After retiring around 2012, he has occasionally contributed articles on media topics and appeared in documentaries related to TV history.