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<des>

     ABC Nightline's range of views is exceedingly narrow; Ted
     Koppel worships Henry Kissinger. (Lee Unreliable Sources
     1990)

<doctype>book
<author>Lee, Martin A.
<author>Solomon, Norman
<title>Unreliable Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News
Media
<city>New York
<publisher>Carol Publishing Group
<year>1990
<pages>26
<foreword author>Asner, Edward

<quote>

     But after a contributing editor of Columbia Journalism
     Review watched 30 consecutive Nightlines, he concluded that
     the pattern was disappointing. "On many nights I found the
     program flat and predictable," Michael Massing recounted.
     "Important points of view were excluded; the range of
     opinion was kept very narrow. Nightline may serve as a
     national town meeting, but not everyone is invited. In fact,
     judging from the programs I viewed, it would seem that
     Nightline's neutrality is more apparent than real."

     Off-camera, Ted Koppel proudly counts among his best friends
     a man he believes possessed of nonpareil genius--Henry
     Kissinger--a frequent Nightline guest. "Henry Kissinger is,
     plain and simply, the best secretary of state we have had in
     20, many 30 years--certainly one of the two or three
     greatest secretaries of state in our century," Koppel said
     in an interview, adding: "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." In summer 1989, during an upsurge of publicity
     about American hostages in Lebanon, Koppel's ultra-deference
     led him to turn the moderating role of the Nightline program
     over to Kissinger so that the revered diplomat could direct
     the panel discussion himself.

     The adoration is mutual. In 1975, Kissinger offered Koppel
     the post of State Department spokesman; Ted declined. A
     dozen years later, Kissinger commented that given the
     opportunity, he'd still offer Koppel a major State
     Department position: "It would be a substantive one--say,
     assistant secretary for Europe." But Koppel's close friend
     Marvin Kalb objected that "Ted could do better than that,
     and I would be surprised if he would not want to. He is a
     man of great talent and considerable ambition." In 1988,
     Nightline's host acknowledged that he had some
     qualifications to be secretary of state. "Part of the job,"
     Koppel said, "is to sell American foreign policy, not only
     to Congress but to the American public. I know I could do
     that." As an ABC newsman, Koppel certainly has amassed
     plenty of that kind of experience.

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