British-American television journalist
Edward James Martin Koppel
(born February 8, 1940) is a British-born American broadcast
journalist
, best known as the
anchor
for
Nightline
, from the program's inception in 1980 until 2005.
Before
Nightline
, he spent 20 years as a broadcast journalist and news anchor for
ABC
. After becoming host of
Nightline
, he was regarded as one of the outstanding serious-minded interviewers on American television. Five years after its 1980 debut, the show had a nightly audience of about 7.5 million viewers.
[1]
After leaving
Nightline
, Koppel worked as
managing editor
for the
Discovery Channel
, a news analyst for
NPR
and
BBC World News America
and a contributor to
Rock Center with Brian Williams
. Since 2016, Koppel has served as a special contributor to
CBS News Sunday Morning
. His career as a foreign and diplomatic correspondent earned him numerous awards, including nine
Overseas Press Club
awards and 25
Emmy Awards
.
Early life and education
[
edit
]
Edward James Martin Koppel,
[2]
an only child, was born in
Nelson
, England. His parents were German
Jews
who fled Germany after the rise of
Adolf Hitler
and
Nazism
.
[3]
In Germany, Koppel's father operated a tire-manufacturing company. To help the British economy, the
Home Secretary
invited him and his wife to move the factory to
Lancashire
,
England
, where he was promised they would be protected in the event of war.
[3]
The factory moved in 1936, but when war broke out in Europe in 1939, Koppel's father was declared an
enemy alien
and imprisoned on the
Isle of Man
for a year and a half.
[3]
Koppel was born in 1940, shortly after his father was taken away. To provide for her infant son, his mother sold her personal jewelry and did menial work in London.
[3]
After he was released from internment, Koppel's father was not permitted to work in England, nor would he allow his wife to work. Following the end of the war, the family earned some money from their confiscated assets and decided to leave for the United States.
[3]
While in England, Ted Koppel was a pupil at
Abbotsholme School
, in Derbyshire. In 1953 when he was 13, the family immigrated to the United States,
[3]
where his mother, Alice, became a singer and pianist, and his father, Edwin, opened a tire factory.
[4]
Koppel's boyhood hero was radio broadcaster
Edward R. Murrow
, whose factual reports during the
bombing of London
inspired him to become a journalist.
[5]
After attending the
McBurney School
, a private preparatory institution in New York,
[6]
Koppel attended
Syracuse University
,
[7]
graduating at age 20 with a
Bachelor of Science
degree. He was a member of the Alpha Chi chapter of the
Pi Kappa Alpha
fraternity. One roommate recalled that Koppel "was incredibly focused and had a photographic memory. He remembers almost every conversation he ever had with anybody. And the man never needs sleep."
[8]
Koppel then went to
Stanford University
, where he earned a
Master of Arts
degree in
mass-communications
research and
political science
.
[9]
While at Stanford, he met his future wife, Grace Anne Dorney.
[3]
Career
[
edit
]
Early career
[
edit
]
Koppel had a brief stint as a teacher before being hired as a
copyboy
at
The New York Times
and as a writer at
WMCA Radio
in New York. In June 1963, he became the youngest correspondent ever hired by
ABC Radio News
, working on the daily
Flair Reports
program. His coverage of the
Kennedy assassination
in 1963 with
Charles Osgood
caused the national news audience to take notice.
[3]
He was scheduled to do a short report, but a delay during the crisis forced him to ad-lib for an hour and a half.
[5]
In 1964, he covered his first of many presidential nominating conventions. He also began covering the
civil rights movement
in
Selma, Alabama
. ABC officials were impressed by Koppel's ability to clarify issues using plain language.
[5]
In 1966, he became the ABC News correspondent for the
Vietnam War
, moving from radio broadcasting to national television.
[3]
He accepted the assignment only after the network agreed to send his wife and their two children to Hong Kong so they could be nearby.
[3]
Before going he took a course to learn the Vietnamese language.
[3]
He returned in 1968 to cover the campaign of
Richard Nixon
, before becoming Hong Kong bureau chief, and
U.S. State Department
correspondent where Koppel formed a friendship with
Henry Kissinger
.
[3]
According to Nixon advisor
John Ehrlichman
, Koppel's friendship with Kissinger was partly due to their similar backgrounds, having Jewish refugee parents and emigrating to America in their youth.
[3]
Koppel was among those traveling to China with U.S. President
Richard Nixon
in 1972. He spoke about it with the
USC
US-China Institute in their "Assignment: China" documentary series about American media coverage of China.
[10]
Koppel likened the trip to a "journey to the dark side of the moon". By 1975, he was anchoring the ABC Evening News on Saturdays, and he continued to file reports for ABC Radio.
[11]
Koppel would often report on State Department foreign conferences, as when he traveled with Kissinger during his meetings in Egypt and Israel in 1975.
[3]
He said about Kissinger: "I have a high regard for Henry. He has a first-class mind. A half hour with him gives me a better insight into a foreign policy question than hours with others."
[3]
In the mid-1970s, Koppel took a year off from his career, to stay home with his children so that his wife could complete her education at
Georgetown Law School
. Koppel's decision upset ABC News president
Roone Arledge
, who demoted Koppel from news anchor when he returned to the network.
[8]
In April 1979, he was lead reporter for an eleven-segment series, "Second to None?", which focused on explaining the dangers of nuclear war. He did his own research and wanted to present "complex material to an audience that hasn't paid much attention in the past but must in the future ...
if
there is to be a future".
[5]
For the series he received an
Alfred I. duPont?Columbia University Award
.
[5]
Host of
Nightline
[
edit
]
In 1980, Koppel became known for his work as the host of a late night news program called
Nightline
. The program originated as a series of special reports about the 444-day-long
Iran hostage crisis
, during which Iranian militants held 52 Americans captive, beginning in early November 1979. At first, the program was called
The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage
, and was hosted by
Frank Reynolds
. Koppel eventually joined Reynolds as co-anchor. In March 1980, the program evolved into
Nightline
, with Koppel as its host.
[12]
Koppel spent twenty-five years anchoring the program, before leaving ABC and
Nightline
in late November 2005.
[13]
While hosting
Nightline
, Koppel also hosted a series of special programs called
Viewpoint
, beginning in 1981, which provided media criticism and analysis. The show was envisioned by ABC News Vice President George Watson as a way to address any media bias that viewers might believe that they encountered on the network. Broadcast before a live audience, it provided viewers with a chance to question how stories were reported or critique television news.
[14]
Viewpoint
was broadcast sporadically, from 1981 until 1997.
Some liberal groups suggested that Koppel was a conduit for the government's point of view and accused him of favoring conservatives when selecting guests.
[15]
In the late 1980s, the progressive media criticism organization
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting
(FAIR) claimed that policymakers and ex-officials dominated the
Nightline
guest list, with critics of foreign policy less visible. In 1987,
Newsweek
called him the "quintessential establishment journalist". Koppel responded that "We are governed by the president and his cabinet and their people. And they are the ones who are responsible for our foreign policy, and they are the ones I want to talk to".
[16]
In 1990, Koppel interviewed
Nelson Mandela
in a US-style
town hall meeting
.
[17]
Also in 1990, ABC News ran a one-hour special called "The Best of Nightline with Ted Koppel".
[18]
In 1997,
Nate Thayer
, a journalist writing for the
Far Eastern Economic Review
who later interviewed
Pol Pot
shortly before the latter's death, claimed that Koppel and
ABC News
made a
verbal agreement
with Thayer for the exclusive North American rights to use video from a show trial of Pol Pot that Thayer and Asiaworks Television videographer David McKaige witnessed on
Nightline
. Thayer claimed ABC purportedly violated that agreement by posting
screenshot
stills of video from the interview on
ABCNews.com
, violating the license as the site was accessible throughout the world, though not uploading the actual video.
[19]
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 replayed an episode of
Nightline
with Koppel's 1995 interviews with retired
Brandeis University
sociology professor
Morrie Schwartz
, who was dying of
Lou Gehrig
's disease.
[20]
On March 24, 2020, Koppel made a guest appearance on
Nightline
to mark the program's 40th anniversary, discussing how he and his wife had been coping with the
COVID-19 pandemic
.
[21]
Post-ABC career
[
edit
]
Following
Nightline
Koppel has taken on a number of roles which span various formats of
news media
:
- He signed up as an
op-ed
-contributing
columnist
, effective January 29, 2006, for
The New York Times
,
[22]
- Following his departure from
Nightline
Koppel formed a three-year partnership with Discovery Communications as managing editor of the
Discovery Channel
. While at Discovery, Koppel produced several lengthy documentaries on a variety of subjects including a 2008 four-hour miniseries on China, which Koppel "ranks with some of the work that [he is] most proud of over the years".
[23]
The four-part
documentary
, called
The People's Republic of Capitalism
, is an extensive look at the fast-changing country. It takes a look at the role of Chinese consumers in the growing yet
communist
economy.
[24]
Koppel and Discovery Communications parted ways in November 2008, terminating their contract six months early, prompting rumors that Koppel would be hired for NBC's
Meet the Press
. Koppel stated that he was not interested in the job.
[23]
- Starting in June 2006, he provided 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
.
[25]
As such, he participated in the annual
NPR
Fourth of July
reading of the
Declaration of Independence
in 2007. Koppel ended his regular commentary on NPR in April 2008, and last appeared as a news analyst on the network in 2014.
[26]
- Koppel made occasional guest appearances on
The Daily Show
appearing in extreme close-up as a disembodied head, acting as
Jon Stewart
's journalistic conscience, sometimes as the replacement for the so-called "Giant Head of
Brian Williams
" projected on the screen behind Stewart. Koppel has jokingly insisted that "this is the actual size of [Koppel's] head"
- Koppel worked for
BBC World News America
as a "contributing analyst" covering the
2008 Republican National Convention
and the
2008 Democratic National Convention
[27]
and hosted a special edition of the program in 2011.
[28]
- On December 12, 2011, Koppel made his first appearance on
NBC Nightly News
with Brian Williams as a reporter. He would later become a special correspondent for NBC's
Rock Center
until the show's cancellation.
- On August 6, 2013,
The Wall Street Journal
published an opinion piece by Koppel entitled "America's Chronic Overreaction to Terrorism".
[29]
- In 2015 Koppel published the book,
Lights Out
: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath
, about the potential of a major cyber-attack on America's power grid.
[30]
- Since March 2016 Koppel has served as a special contributor to
CBS News Sunday Morning
.
[31]
Honors and awards
[
edit
]
Koppel returns to Syracuse University regularly as a guest speaker. He was a member of the student-run
WAER
and keeps in touch with the student media at Syracuse.
[38]
He is a member of the
Pi Kappa Alpha
fraternity.
[39]
Emmy Awards
[
edit
]
- He has won 25 Emmy Awards, including:
[32]
- 1987 - Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story - Programs (Nightline)
- 1999 - Outstanding Investigative Journalism - Programs (Nightline)
- 1999 - Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story - Programs (Nightline)
- 2004 - Outstanding Feature Story in a News Magazine (Nightline)
- 2007 - Lifetime Achievement Award
[40]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Koppel is married to the former Grace Anne Dorney. He became a
naturalized
citizen of the United States in 1963.
[41]
They have four children:
Andrea
(a former journalist), Deirdre, Andrew and Tara. Andrew Koppel was found dead in an apartment in New York City on May 31, 2010, reportedly after a day-long drinking binge. A post mortem toxicology report identified illicit drugs.
[42]
Koppel speaks German and French, in addition to his native English.
[7]
He was a longtime friend of
Henry Kissinger
. Both of them moved to the United States as children. Along with former Secretary of State
Alexander Haig
, Kissinger was the most frequent guest on
Nightline
.
[16]
In an interview in 1989, Koppel commented, "Henry Kissinger is, plain and simply, the best secretary of state we have had in 20, maybe 30 years ? certainly one of the two or three great secretaries of state of our century," and added, "I’m proud to be a friend of Henry Kissinger. He is an extraordinary man. This country has lost a lot by not having him in a position of influence and authority".
[43]
In 1993, Koppel and his wife paid $2.7 million for 16 acres (6.5 ha) overlooking the
Potomac River
in
Potomac, Maryland
.
[44]
They sued to hold their neighbors to an agreement to limit the size of the houses in the neighborhood to 10,000 sq ft (930 m
2
).
[44]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Meet Mr. Perfect of television news",
The Washington Post
, April 6, 1985
- ^
Vanity Fair
. 1994
. Retrieved
18 January
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
John Ehrlichman
. "Why We Stay Up for Ted Koppel."
Parade Magazine
, September 27, 1987, pp. P18, 20-21.
- ^
"Ted Koppel Biography (1940?)"
. Filmreference.com
. Retrieved
18 July
2010
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Moritz, Charles. editor,
Current Biography Yearbook, 1984
,
The H. W. Wilson Co.
, N.Y. (1984) pp. 216-220
- ^
Dan Nimmo and chevelle Newsome.
Political Commentators in the United States in the 20th Century
. Greenwood Press, 1997, p. 151.
- ^
a
b
Huber, J.T.; Huper, J.; Diggins, D. (1993).
Interviewing the World's Top Interviewers
. S.P.I. Books/Shapolsky Publishers. p. 48.
ISBN
978-1-56171-189-5
. Retrieved
16 April
2024
.
- ^
a
b
"The Real King of Late Night",
The Washington Post
, June 12, 1996
- ^
"Ted Koppel"
. ABC News. 17 November 2005
. Retrieved
2 January
2011
.
- ^
"Assignment: China - The Week that Changed the World | US-China Institute"
.
China.usc.edu
. Retrieved
18 January
2017
.
- ^
"The Ted Koppel Collection"
. Syracuse University Library, Special Collections.
- ^
"Ask the Globe".
The
Boston Globe
, April 28, 1988, p. 52.
- ^
Mark Jurkowitz. "Koppel to Leave Nightline and ABC News".
The Boston Globe
, April 1, 2005, p. D5.
- ^
Judy Flander. "Ted Koppel to Moderate 'Viewpoint.'" Chicago Tribune, August 12, 1982, Section 4, p. 11.
- ^
"Koppel Looks Back on a Decade of Nightline".
The Boston Globe
, November 8, 1989, p. 80
- ^
a
b
Solomon, Norman. ?
"Ted Koppel: 'Natural Fit' at NPR News and Longtime Booster of Henry Kissinger"
. ? Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). ? January 16, 2006
- ^
Nelson Mandela destroys Ted Koppel Part 1
- ^
"The Best of Nightline with Ted Koppel"
, 1 hour
- ^
Kelly Heyboer (September 1997).
"A Journalistic Coup Turns Sour"
.
American Journalism Review
: 10?11
. Retrieved
12 January
2012
.
- ^
Archived at
Ghostarchive
and the
Wayback Machine
:
Jerold Wedge (16 September 2015).
"(Tuesdays with) Morrie Schwartz: Lessons on Living, Ted Koppel Nightline Interview"
– via YouTube.
- ^
Johnson, Ted (25 March 2020).
"Ted Koppel, In a Return To 'Nightline', Warns Of Misinformation During Coronavirus Crisis"
.
Deadline
. Retrieved
6 April
2020
.
- ^
"Koppel Takes Posts at The Times and NPR"
,
The New York Times
, January 13, 2006
- ^
a
b
Gough, Paul J. (28 November 2008).
"Ted Koppel, Discovery parting ways"
.
Reuters
.
- ^
Genzlinger, Neil
(9 July 2008).
"On the Trail of Consumerism in a Booming Chinese City"
.
The New York Times
.
- ^
"Ted Koppel to Join NPR as Senior News Analyst"
, NPR, January 12, 2006
- ^
Ted Koppel biography
,
NPR
,
- ^
Consoli, John (8 July 2008).
"Ted Koppel Joins BBC World News America"
.
Adweek.com
. Retrieved
18 January
2017
.
- ^
"Ted Koppel returns to anchor's chair on 'BBC World News America'
"
.
Latimesblogs.latimes.com
. 22 March 2011
. Retrieved
18 January
2017
.
- ^
Koppel, Ted (6 August 2013).
"America's Chronic Overreaction to Terrorism"
.
Wall Street Journal
. WSJ
. Retrieved
24 March
2015
.
- ^
"‘Lights Out,’ by Ted Koppel"
,
The New York Times
, Nov. 20, 2015
- ^
Chris Ariens (13 March 2016).
"Ted Koppel Named Special Contributor to CBS Sunday Morning | TVNewser"
.
Adweek.com
. Retrieved
18 January
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
"Rebuilding the Future",
The Philadelphia Inquirer
, August 25, 2000
- ^
"Ted Koppel gets his own program",
The Jackson Sun
, (Jackson, TN) July 4, 1975
- ^
Ted Koppel biography
Archived
4 May 2017 at the
Wayback Machine
, Museum of Broadcast Communications
- ^
"Board of Trustees at Duke University: 1990s"
. 9 June 2010. Archived from
the original
on 9 June 2010.
- ^
"Paul White Award"
.
Radio Television Digital News Association
. Archived from
the original
on 25 February 2013
. Retrieved
27 May
2014
.
- ^
"Honorary Degrees - Past Recipients"
. University of Southern California. Archived from
the original
on 29 November 2008
. Retrieved
2 January
2011
.
- ^
Archived at
Ghostarchive
and the
Wayback Machine
:
"Ted Koppel entertains CitrusTV"
.
YouTube
. 11 October 2001
. Retrieved
18 July
2010
.
- ^
"Pikes.org - Prominent Pikes"
. 2 February 2009. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (
link
)
- ^
"Ted Koppel : Awards"
.
IMDb.com
. Retrieved
18 January
2017
.
- ^
"Columnist Biography: Ted Koppel"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
2 December
2022
.
- ^
"Ted Koppel's son, 40, found dead in NYC apartment"
.
USA Today
. 1 June 2010. Archived from
the original
on 31 October 2010.
- ^
Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 1989.
- ^
a
b
Mosk, Matthew. - "Koppel Tries to Cut Neighbors Down to Size". -
Washington Post
. - December 26, 2002. - Retrieved: 2008-07-10
External links
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