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ABC-TV journalist Ted Koppel, who caused a firestorm of controversy with his plan to read the names of U.S. troops killed in Iraq, today announced that in the interest of balance and fairness next week he will read another list on his show, Nightline. "I would never want anyone to accuse me of bias. After all, I'm a journalist, devoted to accurately portraying world events," said Mr. Koppel. "So, next week I will read the list of Iraqis who were raped, tortured and killed by Saddam Hussein's regime after President George H.W. Bush declared victory in the Gulf War on...

During a week when Iraqi war coverage has dominated the cable news shows and led the networks' evening news programs, newsman Ted Koppel said he thinks Americans need to be 'reminded' of what is going on in Iraq. In a Friday morning interview, Koppel said that's why he plans to read the names of more than 700 American troops killed in Iraq on Friday night's "Nightline." Not all ABC affiliates will air tonight's "Nightline," however. Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcasting is pre-empting the live "Nightline" program on its ABC affiliates, saying, "We find it offensive that Ted Koppel is trivializing the deaths...

"Nightline" divides audience HARTFORD, Conn. - (KRT) - ABC newsman Ted Koppel's plan to devote tonight's "Nightline" to reading the names of the more than 700 U.S. servicemen and women killed in action in Iraq has stirred anger and praise, and prompted one media company to bar its stations from airing the program. Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group said Thursday that the unique program is politically motivated and ordered its seven ABC affiliates, including WGGB in Springfield, Mass., not to air it. "While the Sinclair Broadcast Group honors the memory of the brave members of the military who have sacrificed their...

Press Release Source: Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. Sinclair Responds to Senator McCain Friday April 30, 2:17 pm ET BALTIMORE, April 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The following is a copy of Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.'s (Nasdaq: SBGI - News) letter sent today to Senator McCain regarding the Company's decision not to air this evening's episode of "Nightline." April 30, 2004 Senator John McCain Chairman United States Senate Commerce Committee U.S. Senate Washington, DC 20510 Dear Senator McCain: I am writing to respond to your letter to me regarding Sinclair Broadcast Group's decision not to air this evening's episode of "Nightline." Let me...

Sinclair Stations to Boycott 'Nightline' Tribute LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A major television chain, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, will bar its ABC-affiliated stations from airing a planned "Nightline" tribute to fallen U.S. troops in Iraq (news - web sites), saying the program is a political statement disguised as news. ABC News plans to devote Friday's entire "Nightline" segment to the tribute, with anchor Ted Koppel reading aloud the names of hundreds of fallen American servicemen and women as their photographs are shown. The network's intentions drew a denunciation from Sinclair, a Baltimore-based owner of 62 television stations in 39 markets...

Asking if you agree with this local station to pull Nightline special on name reading.

Ted Koppel and Nightline are using the co-appearance of President Bush and Vice President Cheney in front of the 9-11 Commission today to spend a half-hour painting Dick Cheney as the puppetmaster of George W. Bush.Three-plus years into his presidency, the mainstream press still misunderestimates President Bush.

Setting up a Thursday night look at how a significant portion of the troops in Iraq are from the National Guard, and the strain that is putting on a system based on people with regular jobs, Nightline anchor Ted Koppel managed to bring up the issue of President Bush’s National Guard service as he highlighted how “President Bush the other day deflected some of the attacks on himself by suggesting that the National Guard itself was under attack. 'I wouldn't denigrate service to the Guard,' said the President, 'because there are a lot of really fine people who served in...

FAIR  Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting     112 W. 27th Street   New York, NY 10001ACTION ALERT:ABC Narrows the Field: Did Kucinich's criticism of Koppel influence decision? December 11, 2003 A day after ABC's Ted Koppel moderated a debate between the Democratic presidential contenders, the network decided to withdraw three off-air producers from the campaigns of Dennis Kucinich, Carol Moseley Braun and Rev. Al Sharpton. ABC's decision was attributed to the fact that these candidates are perceived to have a slim chance of winning the Democratic nomination. An ABC spokesperson explained (Boston Globe, 12/11/03) that "as we prepare for...

It was perhaps a measure of the strangeness of last night's Democratic debate that Rep. Dennis Kucinich, the candidate who wants to withdraw from Iraq and create a Department of Peace, kicked Ted Koppel's ass. The ABC News anchorman moderated the debate, held on the campus of the University of New Hampshire, and began the session like a teacher might begin a first-grade class: by asking the candidates to "raise your hand if you believe Governor Dean can beat George W. Bush." To no one's surprise, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, fresh from winning the endorsement of former Vice President...

Having been wrong on so much of the Iraqi War story, many in the media remain determined to find reason to be critical of the Bush administration for its prosecution of the war, and its efforts to deal with the aftermath. Both ABC’s Nightline and CBS’s Sixty Minutes recently ran stories that strongly suggested that the awarding of contracts to companies wanting to be involved in the cleanup and rebuilding of Iraq has been based primarily on their ties to the administration. In their effort to make the story seem like some big conspiracy at work, both have greatly exaggerated...

War is hell, but a short, successful war that ends with the natives dancing in the streets presents a particular hell for the "peace" movement. It hasn't been a great time for some reporters, either, at least the ones who live and breathe to rain skepticism on the power, the potential and the idealism of America.Think Ted Koppel. Embedded with the troops but never to be accused of being Mr. Rah-Rah, Koppel has been quite the opposite, Mr. Carp-Carp. Just after the war started three weeks ago, Koppel said achieving military success would be very difficult and we can...

ABC's Nightline with Ted Koppel held a town hall on Iraq this Tuesday (March 4). Those selected to ask questions of the panel were overwhelmingly anti-war. We need to write to ABC and request balance. A fellow FREEPER described the incident, here is a summary (For the entire story, go to http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/857123/posts) -- Members of the DC Chapter were invited by Nightline to participate in a town hall meeting on the pending war with Iraq...We were told that they wanted the audience to represent the national trend in the country, which is currently 65-35 in favor of the President's policy...

Ted Koppel's Spin Zone: How Nightline Controls What You SeeBy David Horowitz FrontPageMagazine.com | August 22, 2002 For those of you who were puzzled by my appearance on "Nightline" Monday night, here is why. In the first place the show wasn't really last night, it was about 2:30 in the afternoon PDT when the tape began rolling for me in a Mountain View California studio. They told me there would be two six minute segments for a total of twelve minutes on air, and they would tape about fiftteen so that -- as Koppel said to me and my on...

Although it was quickly downplayed as simple fatigue, President Bush's public dressing-down of NBC News White House correspondent David Gregory highlights the disgraceful way in which television network news correspondents often define "objectivity." During a joint press conference with French President Jacques Chirac some weeks back, Gregory asked President Bush why "there are such strong sentiments in Europe against you and against this administration?" He continued, " Why, particularly, there's a view that you and your administration are trying to impose America's will on the rest of the world, particularly when it comes to the Middle East and where...

"Maybe we are moving to a time when the major commercial broadcast networks, CBS and NBC as well as ABC, get out of the news business," PBS NEWSHOUR host Jim Lehrer declared last week. "They go about the business of entertaining and leave informing to others." Lehrer unleashed and unbuckled during an address at the University of Pennsylvania. So what if ABC hoped to replace NIGHTLINE with Letterman. "The fact is, the possible moving of one late night 30-minute television program does not mean the end of television news as we know it," Lehrer told the crowd, according to a...

Israel Acts, The Media Howl (III) By Jason Maoz, Senior Editor The Monitor is still trying to catch up with some of the more striking examples of media bias in the coverage of Israel`s recent anti-terrorist operations in the Palestinian areas. Topping this week`s list is the insufferable Ted Koppel and his separate interviews with Ariel Sharon and Yasir Arafat, both of which aired on the May 1 edition of ABC`s "Nightline." Koppel, whose swelled head has to be the secret behind his gravity-defying hairdo, maintained a confrontational stance throughout his session with Sharon, peppering the Israeli prime minister with...

Andrea Koppel - Ted Koppel's daughter and CNN's State Department correspondent - insists that an American businessman's charge she made blatant anti-Israel statements at a conference in Tel Aviv is false. According to the New York Post's Page Six's Ian Spiegelman, in an e-mail circulated yesterday David J. Blumberg, head of New York-based Blumberg Capital Management charged that Koppel told him and others that Israeli soldiers had committed "slaughter" against Palestinian civilians and speculated that the current violence would lead to the death of the state of Israel. Blumberg wrote that when an Israeli friend of his told Koppel, "We...

It seemed to rank right up there on the chutzpah meter. Chris Matthews, the high-decibel cable host, eviscerating Ted Koppel, the dogged late-night interviewer? Declaring that Koppel is "not that good"? That Koppel is "mailing it in"? That "nobody watches the show"? Playing "Hardball" with "Nightline"? Matthews says he was quoted out of context in a couple of spots, and a tape of his remarks backs him up. But the always aggressive MSNBC host was still strikingly dismissive of Koppel, who has been battling his ABC bosses since their failed attempt to replace him with David Letterman. Maybe Matthews and...

What happened between Ted Koppel and ABC? Is he still sore about being sold to Disney, and he thinks TV news is doomed? (We can only hope! FR-style news forums are the way to go, IMHO!)How do we answer this poll?!?

In the midst of the controversy over the future of David Letterman, it may come as a surprise to many that the ABC News program 'Nightline' consistently draws higher ratings than 'The Late Show' on CBS in the same time slot. Television network executives may try to obfuscate this fact with talk of local news lead-ins, on-air promotion, and affiliate coverage, but this is a smoke screen and they know it. The truth is that more viewers want in-depth news coverage than want celebrity watching. That is the good news. The bad news is that ABC is looking to...