My e-mail to Nightline:
Mr. Koppel,
I've watched Nightline regularly, for decades now. I remember being hooked on the program from its inception as the saga of the American hostages in Iran played out before a shocked nation.
Sadly, tonight's program reached an all time low. I'm flabbergasted that a journalist of your position would air a report like I witnessed this evening. Mr. O'Neill hit the nail on the head -- you went to a country that is a closed, communist society, no doubt led by government handlers, and reported what you were told without a bit of skepticism. That's not journalism, sir, that's propaganda. I remember applauding you once, during the Cold War, for correctly identifying a Soviet television journalist who appeared on your program as a propagandist. It seems you've forgotten the difference in the years since.
How do you know those villagers were there the day of Kerry's citation? We do know, for sure, which sailors were present. They all, including John Kerry, tell the same story.
How do you know that the incident they describe is even the same incident? If you are to believe them, they say the area was a hot zone with many such confrontations happening.
Mr. Koppel, you seemed to lose patience with John O'Neill tonight. He simply wanted you to acknowledge that he only reported in his book what Kerry's own biographers have said, and then pointed out the descrepencies with the citation. For some reason, you couldn't bring yourself to do that, while it was so obvious to anyone else listening to John O'Neill.
Nightline's handling of the swift boat veterans has been abysmal. ABC News's handling of the election coverage in general, equally bad and plainly slanted.
I won't be watching ABC News, especially Nightline, for news coverage in the future.
I tended to be a little more blunt in my e-mail:
just watched Nightline, thanks...
(I figure that subject line will at least get opened)
...ABC. That. along with the Halperin memo confirms to me you're all about equal to the scumbag known as Dan Rather...
but since you're all trying to install a traitor as CIC it's not like it wasn't expected
keep watching Fox ratings going up while your's keeps dropping, you just lost yet another viewer-needless to say your advertisers and the FCC will hear my complaints...
I didn't bother to sign it and I do plan to e-mail the FCC and complain-FWIW...
does anybody have the advertiser list compiled yet?
No question about it. Koppel constantly and derisively objected, in his snooty tone, that why would a bunch of peasants want to verify part of Kerry's story? Well, they didn't. Kerry spoke of a lone gunman. They spoke of a pitched battle. No one else spoke of a pitched battle. But apparently they were in one, and never knew it, until now. Kerry was particularly oblivious to all this. And he's the reason it's important, one of their own national heroes, and why the Vietnamese put these folks up to this. Funny - the 'fogawar'. Or is that just the fog above Ted's brainstem?
O'Neill had it just right. Koppel should be ashamed. he's not a 'journalist', whatever that even means, these days. He's a propagandist, eager to believe personal reports from those living in a controlled, terrorized Communist society, with minders from the government looking over these people's shoulders as they speak on camera. Never mind, that their principal 'witnesses', were former VC themselves. That's why they claim to have been there. They were the ones shooting at the Americans and South Vietnamese. Koppel has unapologetically and even condescendingly become a mouthpiece for Vietnamese Communist propaganda. THAT . . is a fair assessment. That is EXACTLY what happened last night.