Colext/Macondo Cantina virtual de los COLombianos en el EXTerior --------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message ----- From: "Nightline" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Nightline Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, March 05, 2002 12:47 PM Subject: NIGHTLINE: Statement from Ted Koppel > To all of our email subscribers, this is Ted's statement from this > morning's New York Times. > > ---- > > Network News Is Still Serious Business > > March 5, 2002 > > By TED KOPPEL > > WASHINGTON -- I have to confess to a slightly perverse satisfaction at the > outpouring of warm and generous support that my "Nightline" colleagues and > I have received since news reports that our employers at ABC are > negotiating with David Letterman to take over the time slot we currently > occupy. > > The eulogies have been wonderful, but premature. "Nightline" (or some > program with a striking similarity to "Nightline") ought to have a place > in television's expanding universe, and I am confident that it will. I > continue to hope that it will be at ABC, but that decision is beyond our > control. > > I have no complaints. (Actually, I do have one; but I'll come to that a > little later.) I have had a glorious 39-year run at ABC News, fulfilling > and often exceeding all my youthful expectations. I have been a foreign > correspondent, covering events in more than 80 countries. I was a war > correspondent in Vietnam, a bureau chief in Miami and Hong Kong. For nine > years I was the network's chief diplomatic correspondent. > > When the former president of ABC News, Roone Arledge, conceived of a > late-night news program in 1979 that eventually evolved into "Nightline," > there was no real expectation that it could effectively compete with > Johnny > Carson's "The Tonight Show" on NBC. CBS, in those days, had no original > programming at all in the time slot; but when I asked what ABC would > regard as "success" on our part, I was told, "Come in a respectable > third." > > We did better than that. Over the past 22 years we have been, and continue > to be, a consistent competitive second. In times of crisis, we often have > the largest late-night audience in broadcasting. I like to believe that > this is because we provide a genuine public service. Over the years, with > the arrival and evolution of cable television and 24-hour news networks, > our audience has diminished, our role has changed. But "Nightline's" > viewership remains, to this day, four or five times that of the > highest-rated programs on cable; and broadcasts like our five-part series > on Congo have no outlet anywhere else on television. > > Yet we have never lost sight of the fact that we work for a commercial > television network. We have contributed to the network's commitment to > operate in the public interest; but we have also helped pay the rent. > Conservatively speaking, "Nightline" has earned well over half a billion > dollars for a succession of corporate owners over the years. The > program continues to be profitable to this day. > > Still, it is altogether reasonable that the Walt Disney Company, like > Capital Cities before it and ABC/Paramount Theaters before that, meet its > obligation to investors. Particularly in these difficult economic times, > it is perfectly understandable that Disney would jump at the opportunity > to increase earnings by replacing "Nightline" with the more profitable > David Letterman show. For many years now I, along with my employers, have > benefited hugely from "Nightline's" commercial success. I understand the > nature of the bargain that I made. > > But I have one complaint - and that is about the anonymous suggestion from > one of our corporate executives, quoted in The Times, that "Nightline" has > lost its relevance. Another unnamed executive implied that the program is > no longer competitive or profitable - both assertions are demonstrably > untrue - but relevance is a more subjective matter. I would argue that in > these times, when homeland security is an ongoing concern, when another > terrorist attack may, at any time, shatter our sense of normalcy, when > American troops are engaged in Afghanistan, the Philippines, Yemen and > Georgia, when the likelihood of military action against Iraq is growing - > when, in short, the regular and thoughtful analysis of national and > foreign > policy is more essential than ever - it is, at best, inappropriate and, at > worst, malicious to describe what my colleagues and I are doing as lacking > relevance. > > There are excellent business reasons for Disney to pursue the Letterman > program. But when "Nightline" is gone from the ABC schedule, and should > the occasion arrive that our work might again seem relevant to the > anonymous executive, it will not then be possible to reconstitute what is > so easily destroyed. > > > Ted Koppel is anchor and managing editor of "Nightline." > > ----------- > If you have questions or comments regarding this message or a recent > "Nightline" broadcast, please do not hit reply; simply click on this link > to send your message directly to the "Nightline" staff: > http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/Nightline/Nightline_email_form.html > > Or log on to the new "Nightline" Message Board: > http://boards.go.com/cgi/abcnews/request.dll?LIST&room=nightline > > Chat with "Nightline" guests and find articles, transcripts and video > excerpts on our Web site at: > http://abcnews.go.com/Sections/Nightline/ > > You can unsubscribe to the "Nightline" e-mail at: > http://login.mailpref.go.com/unsubscribe > > Ask your friends to sign up! Send them this link: > http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/DailyNews/nightline_login.html -------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] with UNSUBSCRIBE COLEXT as the BODY of the message. Un archivo de colext puede encontrarse en: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ cortesia de Anibal Monsalve Salazar
