Ted Koppel
Ted Koppel Takes Himself Out of the Running for Meet the Press
In recent weeks, as NBC executives continue to search for a long term replacement for the late Tim Russert as the moderator of Meet the Press, several TV news insiders have speculated to the Media Mob that Ted Koppel was a possibility.
So much for that.
Today, TV Newser has an interview with Mr. Koppel in which the veteran newsman more or less shoots down that possibility.
"That's the kind of thing that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me," Mr. Koppel told a Russertian-sounding Gail Shister. "They need to find somebody younger than Tim, not older than Tim. read more »
Sept. 11 Came Early this Year
Pace University's three-day "Aftershock" conference ("Rethinking the Future Since Sept. 11") will have closed its curtains by the weekend.
Katie Couric weighs in tonight with an assessment of national security while Ted Koppel will dig in Sunday.
The two photo exhibits downtown will stick around for a while, but if you want to see a set of memorial quilts, you better get there Friday.
It's obvious why presenters would want to start early, but we have to wonder, how long can Americans remain in this commemorative state?
Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center" (starring Nicolas Cage, above) premiered three weeks ago on 2,957 screens. It has already closed on 55 of them. read more »
-Matthew SchuermanThe Man Who Sold the Boro; A Broker of 'Good People'
Inside Man's Not So Lousy; Plus: Spike and Me on TV
Inside Man’s Not So Lousy; Plus: Spike and Me on TV
Marash Joins Jazeera: "Marriage Made in Heaven"
"This is a real sort of marriage made in heaven in terms of journalistic ambition and interest," said Mr. Marash on the phone today.
Mr. Marash won three Emmys and one DuPont award during his time at ABC and left the network at the end of November, under not entirely amicable circumstances, after Ted Koppel's last broadcast of Nightline.
Mr. Marash joins a number of other Western journalists, including Brit interviewer Sir David Frost and former CNN talk show host Riz Khan, in jumping to the upstart network, a sister channel to the controversial Arabic language version. Both channels are financed by the benevolent dictator of Qatar. Mr. Marash will anchor two and a half hours a day. He will also report stories around the world and moderate in-studio discussions, a la Koppel.
"Our niche, if you will, in the satellite news channel competition is to be the high end," Mr. Marash said. "It is to be the most sophisticated, the most nuanced and the most sort of information-filled, and that all sounds great to me."
Mr. Marash said he first approached Al Jazeera International shortly after May, 2005, when Mr. Koppel announced his intentions to leave ABC after a contentious few years with network brass. The International channel also approached Mr. Koppel, according to sources close to the anchor, but nothing came of the meeting.
Rebecca Lipkin, a former London-based Nightline producer who was among the first American journalists to switch to Al Jazeera, recommended the move.
"When she went and started talking to me about what she was doing, and the atmosphere and the ambitions there, I mostly just kvelled for her," Mr. Marash said. "But then, when it became clear my Nightline future was drawing to a close, she said, 'You oughta call them.' I did, and I found them very receptive."
Al Jazeera, which has made headlines recently as a possible one-time target of President Bush's aggression (and bombs), is still in an uphill public-relations battle among Western audiences, distributers and journalists. Mr. Marash said he thought long and hard about that before signing with the channel.
"You'd have to be dumb and blind not to be thinking about these issues," he said. "The fact is, of course, that Al Jazeera has never aired any beheadings. Their news standards seem to me to be very similar to our news standards."
About the reports that President Bush was once narrowly dissuaded from bombing the Arab-language network's headquarters in Doha, Mr. Marash said, "I hope he was joking."
The Al Jazeera International announcement capped a flurry of other Nightline veteran news on Thursday. The New York Times announced that Mr. Koppel, in addition to serving as the managing editor of the Discovery Channel, will be writing a column for the New York Times. And NPR announced that Mr. Koppel will be providing commentary for its radio networks, as well. Michel Martin, a former Nightline correspodent, is also going to NPR, where she will host her own talk show. read more »
"The Nightline Alumni Association is rockin' today," Mr. Marash said.
--Rebecca DanaLive, From Times Square, It’s…Nightline!
Nightline Finds Neverland
Goldston will take over for Tom Bettag--Nightline's longtime executive producer and a close friend of anchor Ted Koppel--who plans to step down when Koppel does, this coming December. The two announced their "suicide pact" this spring, after years of tense relations with the network stemming from ABC's aggressive and unsuccessful 2002 bid to lure David Letterman to the 11:35 time slot Nightline has held for 25 years.
Goldston's top competition for the post was Sara Just, the current second-in-command at Nightline, who was said to be the preferred candidate among the show's tight-knit staff. Just traveled to New York for a meeting this morning with ABC brass. ABC plans for her to continue to work as managing senior producer of the show at least through the December transition, an ABC source said.
Since Koppel and Bettag announced their intention to leave, the Alphabet network has been experimenting with new formats for Nightline, the storied half-hour, single-topic program that has won every major journalism award more than once, including eight Peabodys, twelve duPont-Columbia awards, and scores of Emmys. Just has overseen the experimentation, trying out multi-topic and multi-anchor shows on Koppel's two nights off each week.
The shows have featured fill-in anchors Chris Bury, Jake Tapper, Bill Weir and Cynthia McFadden, among others. Segments have included a homage to still-not-retired 46-year-old baseball legend Rickey Henderson, narrated by ESPN's Jeremy Schaap, and a much-buzzed about alternative-format edition shot in New York, on a stage that resembled a jazz club, with a smoke machine and small tables and chairs for the audience.
Goldston is scheduled to take over the experimental programming in two weeks, according to a newtwork source.
In response to public speculation about what will become of Nightline, which began as a 20-minute show called "America Held Hostage" during the 1979-80 Iran hostage crisis, ABC News executives have said repeatedly that no matter what happens to the format after the old guard leaves, the show will retain its basic DNA: same in-depth interviews. Same moody gravitas. Same set; same staff; same city.
But Goldston's appointment over Just--a long-time staffer with a flawless Nightline pedigree--makes those assurances somewhat less reassuring. Despite an accomplished career abroad, including a long stint with the British television network ITV, where he produced the popular Iraq war news show "Shock and Awe," Goldston is still an outsider, assigned to lead a close-knit group that is often accused of elitism and clubbiness by others at the network. He lives in New York, and Nightline is shot in Washington. Bettag originally did the executive producer job from New York as well, but the news has only fueled insider speculation that the network has plans to move Nightline to its New York studios, where executives can keep a closer eye on the staff.
Goldston's appointment also raises the possibility that Bashir, who works as a correspondent for ABC News, might join his old friend on Nightline. Producers have auditioned a rotating docket of talent on Koppel's off-nights but have not settled on a new anchor or anchors, and Bashir could be a promising candidate. His documentary "Living with Michael Jackson" was originally produced for ITV in 2003. It aired on ABC that same year and drew more than 27 million viewers. That program, in which Jackson extolled the virtues of sharing his bed with little boys, became not-damning-enough evidence at the heart of Mr. Jackson's second child molestation trial, at which Mr. Bashir testified and which concluded earlier this year.
Thus the new Ted Koppel could be the man who helped sear an image of the King of Pop's bedtime habits into the American brain.
Still, for Nightline fans who wish the show would stay the same, the results could have been worse--a lot worse. The appointment of Goldston should at least quell persistent rumors that ABC might bring in Ellen DeGeneres or Chris Rock to replace Koppel and make a go of taking on Jay Leno and Letterman. It also should at least forestall the efforts of ABC's sports and entertainment divisions, both of which had been working up proposals for what they would do with the coveted late-night time period.
And if nothing else, beleaguered Jimmy Kimmel—the recipient of Nightline's lead-in, who must by now have developed a nervous tic for all the rumors of his show's imminent cancellation or exile to a wee-hours time slot—can breathe a little easier. For the time being.
--Rebecca DanaUPDATE: ABC News confirms the hire in a press release:
ABC NEWS NAMES JAMES GOLDSTON EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF "NIGHTLINE"
James Goldston has been named executive producer of ABC News Nightline, ABC News President David Westin announced today. Mr. Goldston will oversee production and editorial content of the program and assume management of "Nightline's" Washington, DC and New York City based offices, following current executive producer Tom Bettag's departure at the end of the year. "James is a talented and experienced producer with deep roots in daily and documentary news. His admiration and respect for Nightline's rich history and tradition coupled with his strong journalistic background makes James the ideal producer to lead Nightline into the future," said Mr. Westin. "I am delighted and honored to be joining the Nightline team. It is a show with a rich and vibrant heritage, and I'm very much looking forward to working with everyone at ‘Nightline' to maintain and enhance its reputation in the year's ahead," said James Goldston.
Prior to joining ABC News in 2004, Mr. Goldston was the executive producer of Britain's most watched current affairs program, ITV1's "Tonight with Trevor McDonald" from 2002 - 2004. There, he produced a series of celebrated documentaries, including "Millionaire - A Major Fraud," Britain's most watched documentary for nearly 10 years; Shock and Awe - "Tonight's" award-winning coverage of the Iraq War anchored from Kuwait and Baghdad," and "Living with Michael Jackson." From 1999 - 2001, he was a senior producer of several award-winning interviews and investigations for "Tonight."
The Royal Television Society has awarded Mr. Goldston and "Tonight" the prestigious Program of the Year award three times in five years.
Mr. Goldston was a producer for several BBC News programs, including "Newsnight," the network's nightly news analysis show and a "Nightline" descendant. There he was responsible for daily coverage of several international stories, including the Kosovo War, the Good Friday peace agreement, and President Clinton's impeachment. He has produced for the BBC's flagship current affairs program, "Panorama" and "The Money Program."
Mr. Goldston joined ABC News last year as a senior producer of primetime specials and investigative reports, including ABC's world exclusive investigation into Victor Conte, the figure at the center of the Balco steroids sports scandal. read more »
Mr. Goldston is a graduate of Jesus College, Oxford University.
