ABC's Nightline has degenerated into this ...

[Bozita]

... I've named it "People Magazine Plus." It's been a long ride down.

Look at their email.:

Tonight on 'Nightline'

Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2006 --

"Nightline's Year in Love"

They are some of the most familiar but most beguiling questions in people's lives: Why do we fall in love? Why do we fall out of love? Why do people feel so deeply the desire to start a family?

"Nightline" explored these questions and more in 2006 -- everything from what it's like when guys take classes in how to pick up girls (the teachers insist they're teaching sensitivity), to how you can still get a quickie wedding in Las Vegas (better go before midnight).

Our look at love includes what families will do for the love of a child. "Nightline" spoke to young women and couples facing fertility challenges and grappling with the choices that technologies such as in vitro fertilization and egg freezing present. We also followed the inspiring stories of the tiniest babies, struggling for life in the neonatal intensive care unit.

We examined some new horizons when it comes to reclaiming passion. As pharmaceuticals made headway this year in resuscitating lost libidos, including a drug specifically targeted at women, a new problem emerged: the rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases among senior citizens.

Nothing generates more interest than celebrities falling in and out of love…and having babies. In 2006, Suri Cruise and Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt were born, and it was also the year that the Supreme Court awarded Anna Nicole Smith millions of her late ex-husband's billions.

Among celebrity couples, Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown called it quits this year, as did Britney Spears and Kevin Federline. But perhaps no split caused as big a stir as Paul McCartney and Heather Mills. The Beatle's breakup raged in the headlines and the ensuing legal battle pitched a former model against a very powerful, very popular man.

Far from the headlines, "Nightline" also explored the more minute concerns of unrequited love, or love broken by the end of a life.

We spent time with a brilliant young piano player who had lost some of his focus because, he said, he was in love. The young man is autistic -- he has trouble with even the most basic social interactions, so what is his experience of love?

We also sat down for a candid conversation with the author Joan Didion, who recounted her life following the death of her husband, John. Their love and separation, and her reflections on both, are profound.

We hope you'll join us.

"Nightline" Anchor Cynthia McFadden
and the rest of the "Nightline" team

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. There are many reasons why I have not bothered with

nightline now for over two years

Give me teh daily show, even on a repeat, any day of the week and twice on Sunday

[Bozita]

4. How long until Nightline starts with a comedic monologue ...

... and finishes with three stories selected from these categories:

1. celebrities

2. fashion

3. movies

4. television

5. recording artists

6. the latest sleazy case on Court TV that involves sex

[Neshanic]

2. It really is like TV and Vietnam in the 60's...strange.

Almost no indication of a long and no end in sight war being fought on the other side of the world. At least then they had the excuse of only limited channels.

The internet gives us the real story though, and the tragic news of a uncle here who has lost his precious nephew to this insanity. My thoughts are with them.

[susanna]

3. Last time they did anything of news value...

...was the "In Memoriam" for the troops lost in Iraq. Of course, that got them boycotted by all the right-wing dipshits.

So they went for "love." Yay.

[Gabi Hayes]

5. Nightline, Kissinger's favorite bully pulpit, has always been wretched,

with the very occasional exception, from the day it began, as a platform for the Reagan Presidential Campaign.

just ask HK's bestest buddy, Ted Koppel.

there have been a few threads on this, which might as well have another go-round:

Misinformer of the Year: ABC


In October 24 appearances on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes, ABC News political director Mark Halperin claimed that the "old media" -- broadcast news outlets and major newspapers -- were "biased against conservatives; there's no doubt about it." He stated, "I think we've got a chance in these last two weeks to prove to conservatives that we understand their grievances. We're going to try to do better." But if "try to do better" to not appear "biased against conservatives" meant offering viewers conservative misinformation, Halperin shouldn't have worried; a review of dozens of items by Media Matters for America identifying and correcting conservative misinformation from ABC suggests that Halperin's network was "try to do better" throughout 2006.

This year saw ABC air The Path to 9/11, a two-part miniseries that placed the blame for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the Clinton administration and whitewashed some of the Bush administration's failures leading up to the attacks. Additionally, the network's news coverage frequently reported Republican spin as fact, passed on falsehoods propagated by conservatives, and missed numerous opportunities to challenge or question the administration's actions during solo interviews with Bush and key members of his administration.

These examples, and many more, earned ABC the distinction of being named Media Matters' Misinformer of the Year for 2006. The selection of an entire network for the honor represents a change from previous years, when individual media figures -- Fox News' Bill O'Reilly in 2004 and MSNBC's Chris Matthews in 2005 -- received the award. But a look at some of its most flagrant examples of conservative misinformation confirms that ABC won the Misinformer of the Year the old-fashioned way: The network earned it.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200612220014




and for all of you who worship at the Altar Koppel, here's a link which provides a few interesting facts that might open your eyes a bit:

http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2005/11/end-of-bad-era.html



and aren't we glad to see his addition to the likes of Cokie Roberts, Juan Williams, Mara Liasson, etal, to NPR's cast of Newspeakers?

"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," Koppel said in an interview (quoted in Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 1989).

Koppel 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."


one last big on Nightline, which sums it up as well as could be expected:

". . . if you want to know what the ownership of the country wants you to know, tune in to Nightline and listen to Ted Koppel and his guests" (Gore Vidal, The Decline of the American Empire, p. 44).

[KoKo]

18. Good links for those who want to know more about Koppel..

Some only remember Nightline in recent years ....and were brainwashed not knowing the history. Well...brainwashed is too strong a word.."Imprinted from Birth" might be better.. :shrug: Not anyone's fault...but good for folks to be aware of Nightline's "darker side."

[barb162]

6. The first few yrs. with Koppel were good

I think they should get rid of the show as it is now

[Gabi Hayes]

9. the first year was about destroying the Carter presidency, then

building up Reagan, and justifying the 'rebuilding' of fortress America

there might have been the occasional decent show buried in there somewhere, but, come on.

"America Held Hostage....Day blah blah blah." what more needs to be said? and who stole that pathetic meme as soon as Clinton assumed office?






one last bit of info on the sorts of guests frequenting that show:

''The four most frequent guests interviewed by Ted Koppel in the 40 months were former Sec. of State Henry Kissinger, former Sec of State Alexander Haig, former Assistant Sec. of State Elliot Abrams and Jerry Falwell of the Moral Majority. Rev. Falwell appeared on Nightline once to give his expertise on AIDS; on another show, he opined about homosexuality. While these guys were appearing a dozen or more times each, dissidents like Noam Chomsky and Helen Caldicott never appeared once.''

http://www.mirabai.com/articles/cohen/

[barb162]

11. Sorry , my recollection of the show is nothing like yours.

I remember a lot of hard-hitting interviews on a number of topics

[Selatius]

7. They're covering this instead of covering the war in Iraq?

There's a reason why people in Europe think we're so ill-informed, and it's because of the shit the corporate news outlets call information.

[Old and In the Way]

8. I credit Koppel with killling Carter's re-election.

His nightly Day# ___ of the Iranian hostage crisis put Carter's foreign policy under a microscope and made him look impotent on his ability to get a resolution to that. There were other issues, but I think that dragged his ratings down enough for Bush/Reagan to insure that hostages were held until the election...it still blows my mind that the Carter and the American people didn't know what Republicans did to assure themselves the election. The media was too busy moaning about Carter's inability to free the hostages, I guess. And like it was Carter's fault that the Army/AF didn't have their equipment properly conditioned to deal with dust and dirt. But Carter was a Democrat, so he got the negative media attention.

Can you imagine Nightline doing a daily recap of Iraq - "Day# ____ of Mission Accomplished"? Me neither.

[Bozita]

10. Bingo! I couldn't agree with you more.

[Hardrada]

12. That vile propaganda bit brought in its train

a host of journalistic crimes and media obeisance to corporate rule.

[teryang]

15. Helocopters are not intended for use on long range missions

...especially through the spring dust storms in Iran. I was very familiar with air operations at that time. My understanding is that General Secord was in charge of the operation. It wasn't intended to succeed.

General Secord was later a major Iran Contra conspirator, and a participant in the looting of the nations S&Ls.

[Old and In the Way]

16. Very interesting comment, teryang...

I recall wondering if the mission wasn't politically compromised back then. I suspect that Carter and Clinton had many people working against them in the military and CIA. I hope the next elected Democrat President addresses this with a serious purging of RW neocons in these critical branches of government.

[teryang]

20. I followed the dubious mission closely

...when I heard Secord was involved, it all made sense.

A candidate like John Edwards is going to have to give up on the golly gee whiz blind southern support of all things military and get some savy operator like General Clark as VP or Secdef to keep an eye on the traitorous elements of the "secret government." They are always there like a bad case of termites undermining the Constitution.


I'd get rid of all the dual citizenship types in DOD, Homeland Security, etc. I'd repeal the Homeland Security Act in addition to the Patriot Act and restore the Federal Agency structure including the intelligence agencies back to their pre-homeland security days. I'd repeal the intelligence reform act and dismantle Northcom. The post WWII security organization of the Federal government was good enough. This whole terra, terra, terra, nonsense is a vicious hoax.

[Old and In the Way]

21. I agree about Clark.

He knows the inside organization of the Pentagon and he understands how they have become a political tool in the hands of the Republicans. Sure hope that the Democratic President picks him for SecDef. And similar strong insiders for FBI and CIA. We can't keep having good Democratic policy booby trapped by the BFEE/neocon agenda.

[KoKo]

17. Yep....that Countdown for the Hostages made Koppel's career.

I never trusted him because I felt that it was very convenient that he burst onto the scene with his Nightline Show making his name off dissing Carter with that drumbeat.

[gumby]

13. Yeppers, Nightline was born of the Iran hostage "crisis"

Dum, dum,dum,....DAY XXX. Carter sux and Ted Koppel is a journalist. That is all. Over and out.

[Mr_King]

14. I saw a few seconds of Nightline...

I thought with Ford's death, Edwards announcing he's running for President, the number of American soldiers being now higher then the number of deaths on 9/11 that they could find something more important to talk about.

CBS News, ABC News, and NBC News all a disagrace. And like many others have said a shell of their former selves.

[Marnieworld]

19. "Nothing generates more interest than celebrities falling in and out of love…and having babies. "

This says it all. I can think of a gazillion more things that generate my interest more than celebrities. This is fine for "Extra" and "Entertainment Tonight" but I thought Nightline was supposed to be a news show. Remember when that actually meant something?

They don't even mention the dramatic sweep of power of Democrats in Congress and all over. It should be a top news story. We swept everything. Yet Shiloh Nouvel? Exploring love? Appropriate for Oprah and even she remembers Katrina and Global Warming.