Ted Koppel

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Edward James Koppel (born February 8, 1940) is an American journalist, best known as the former anchorman for ABC's Nightline.

Koppel was born in Lancashire, England, after his Jewish parents fled Germany due to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. He graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science degree and from Stanford University with a Master of Arts degree in mass communications research and political science. He is a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity.

Koppel started working at ABC in 1963, first as a foreign correspondent for the network. He is most widely known as the long-time lead anchorman for Nightline, a position he held when the program began in 1980. Koppel gave up that position on November 22, 2005.

Following Nightline Koppel has taken on a number of roles which span various formats of news media:

• He was named managing editor of the Discovery Channel, where he will host and produce news programs covering major global topics and events;
• He signed up as an Op-Ed contributing columnist, effective Jan. 29, for The New York Times [1];
• Starting in June 2006, he will provide commentary to Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Day to Day on National Public Radio, joining NPR's other two Senior News Analysts, Cokie Roberts and Daniel Schorr [2];
• Arabic television news channel Al Jazeera courted Koppel to join its 24-hour English-language service Al Jazeera plans to launch this year, Reuters reported. Veteran "Nightline" correspondent Dave Marash had already accepted a job with Al Jazeera. "I don't think Tom and I entertained it more than 38 seconds", the former "Nightline" anchor said at an annual winter gathering of TV critics in Pasadena, referring to himself and longtime production partner Tom Bettag.

Contents 1 Departure from Nightline 2 Trivia 3 See also 4 External links

[edit] Departure from Nightline

On November 22, 2005, Koppel stepped down from Nightline after 25 years with the program and left ABC after 42 years with the network. His final Nightline broadcast did not feature clips highlighting memorable interviews and famous moments from his tenure as host, as is typical when an anchor retires. Instead, the show recalled Koppel's 1995 interviews with retired Brandeis University sociology professor Morrie Schwartz, who was dying of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease). For this broadcast, Koppel interviewed sports journalist Mitch Albom, who had been a student of Schwartz. Albom talked about how the Nightline interviews led to him contacting Schwartz personally, visiting him weekly and eventually publishing the book Tuesdays with Morrie, chronicling lessons about life learned from Schwartz.

After the show's last commercial break, Koppel made his final remarks prior to signing off:

There's this quiz I give to some of our young interns when they first arrive at Nightline. I didn't do it with the last batch; it's a little too close to home. "How many of you", I'll ask, "can tell me anything about Eric Sevareid?" Blank stares. "How about Howard K. Smith or Frank Reynolds?" Not a twitch of recognition. "Chet Huntley? Jack Chancellor?" Still nothing. "David Brinkley" sometimes causes a hand or two to be raised, and Walter Cronkite may be glad to learn that a lot of young people still have a vague recollection that he once worked in television news. What none of these young men and women in their late teens and early 20s appreciates, until I point it out to them, is that they have just heard the names of seven anchormen or commentators who were once so famous that everyone in the country knew their names. Everybody. Trust me, the transition from one anchor to another is not that big a deal. Cronkite begat Rather, Chancellor begat Brokaw, Reynolds begat Jennings. And each of them did a pretty fair job in his own right. You've always been very nice to me, so give this new anchor team for Nightline a fair break. If you don't, I promise you the network will just put another comedy show in this time slot. Then you'll be sorry.

Koppel has gone on to become a senior correspondent for NPR and Discovery Channel.

[edit] Trivia

• Koppel is multi-lingual, speaking German, Russian, and French, in addition to his native English.

• Koppel is also an excellent mimic, doing skilled impressions of William F. Buckley, and others, though he rarely does impressions in public or on television.

• Koppel is an old friend of Henry Kissinger. Both Kissinger and Koppel come from European Jewish families; both moved to the United States as children. As Secretary of State, Kissinger once offered Koppel a job as his spokesman, but Koppel declined.

• Koppel's daughter Andrea Koppel is a Congressional correspondent for CNN.

• In 2003, Koppel was embedded with the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry Division as it marched toward Baghdad during the 2003 Iraq War. At the onset of the war, Koppel made a rare on-air mistake, misquoting and misattributing Shakespeare in a report where he said "Wreak havoc and unleash the dogs of war! [sic]"; the actual quote, "Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!" is from Julius Caesar, not from Henry V as Koppel claimed.

[edit] See also

• Koppel on Discovery: Iran, The most Dangerous Nation? (2006)

[edit] External links

• Biography from ABC
• Ted Koppel to Join 'NY Times' Editorial Page, Contribute to NPR, a January 2006 article from Editor & Publisher
• Global National anchor Kevin Newman recalls Ted Koppel on his blog

Preceded by: Frank Reynolds

Nightline anchor March 24, 1980 – November 22, 2005

Succeeded by: Terry Moran, Cynthia McFadden, and Martin Bashir