Ted Koppel is leaving ABC in November [View All]

[Tactical Progressive]

Not just Nightline, but ABC News entirely.

They offered him other options like specials or switching 'Nightline' to George Stephanopolous with Koppel going to Sunday to host 'This Week'. Stephanopolous probably will take over Nightline, but Ted didn't want to go to a political show like 'This Week'. He just wants to start something new. I think there's probably more to it than that, but we might not know for a while.

This came in a Charlie Rose interview of David Westin, president of ABC, and he said that Ted had made the decision within the last few days. Koppel is a liberal but mostly he's an evenhanded newsman. He'll be missed. 26 years when he retires.

Westin said some interesting things, like how 'balance' doesn't mean that you always have two opposing viewpoints. His example was that ABC isn't going to put on a pedophile promoter to 'balance' out a story on pedophelia. Gee, how hard was that to figure out? Now if they can only take it to the next step. Edward R. Murrow supposedly said 'Sometimes there aren't two sides to a story.' It was the first time I've heard anyone in the media acknowlege what has become apparent to those who talk about these things on the internet. I thought it was heartening for one of these clowns to realize that the sense of cheap fairness which they have been increasingly employing, and which now dominates the news, is crap, but I have a suspicion it won't change them much.

In short, there was the first glimmer of recognition from someone in authority that their very conception of fairness is flawed. That can't be a bad thing, but it's a long way from there to it being a good thing in practice.