Ted Koppel
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Edward James "Ted" 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 [link];
- 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 [link];
- 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.
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:
Trivia
- Koppel's daughter Andrea Koppel is a Congressional correspondent for CNN; his brother Peter Koppel is Assistant Dean of the School of Management at the University of Ottawa.
- 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.
External links
- [Biography] from ABC
- [Ted Koppel to Join 'NY Times' Editorial Page, Contribute to NPR], a January 2006 article from Editor & Publisher
| Preceded by: Frank Reynolds | Nightline anchor 1979 – November 22, 2005 | Followed by: Terry Moran, Cynthia McFadden, and Martin Bashir |
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