Posted on 01/29/2006 9:20:51 AM PST by Pikamax
Ted Koppel Pens First Piece as 'NY Times' Columnist--Comes Out Swinging
By E&P Staff
Published: January 29, 2006 12:45 AM ET
NEW YORK In his first contribution after being named a New York Times columnist, former ABC newsman Ted Koppel declares, "I cannot help but see that the industry in which I have spent my entire adult life is in decline and in distress."
Koppel raps the new "calculated subjectivity" and forced empathy of cable news, and adds: "The accusation that television news has a political agenda misses the point. Right now, the main agenda is to give people what they want. It is not partisanship but profitability that shapes what you see."
But his view is that journalists "should be telling their viewers what is important, not the other way around. "
In a surprise conclusion, he suggests that perhaps rather than aiming news shows at the disinterested younger segment, the networks should focus on serving older consumers who actually are interested in serious news. (Is there a lesson for newspapers here?)
The goal for the traditional broadcast networks now "is to identify those segments of the audience considered most desirable by the advertising community and then to cater to them," Koppel writes. "Most television news programs are therefore designed to satisfy the perceived appetites of our audiences. That may be not only acceptable but unavoidable in entertainment; in news, however, it is the journalists who should be telling their viewers what is important, not the other way around.
"Indeed, in television news these days, the programs are being shaped to attract, most particularly, 18-to-34-year-old viewers. They, in turn, are presumed to be partly brain-dead — though not so insensible as to be unmoved by the blandishments of sponsors.
"Most particularly on cable news, a calculated subjectivity has, indeed, displaced the old-fashioned goal of conveying the news dispassionately. But that, too, has less to do with partisan politics than simple capitalism." Koppel knocks CNN's new emphasis on journalism-by-empathy, and observes: "Even Fox News's product has less to do with ideology and more to do with changing business models...
"Now, television news should not become a sort of intellectual broccoli to be jammed down our viewers' unwilling throats. We are obliged to make our offerings as palatable as possible. But there are too many important things happening in the world today to allow the diet to be determined to such a degree by the popular tastes of a relatively narrow and apparently uninterested demographic....
"If the network news divisions cannot be convinced that their future depends on attracting all demographic groups, then perhaps, at least, they can be persuaded to aim for the largest single demographic with the most disposable income — one that may actually have an appetite for serious news. That would seem like a no-brainer. "
I've been lost since Ted hasn't been around to tell me what's important.....
I don't remember being aware of media bias until Reagan got elected while I was in grad school. I was shocked. Pleased, but shocked, as the media verdict was there was no way he could be elected. Since then the bias has seemed so obvious. Starting to listen to Rush Limbaugh--just hearing someone speak the truth--was another eye-opening event.
"And now, ABC World News Tonight, sponsored by Metamucil and Depends..."
Leave it to Ted to use a ten-dollar word such as "blandishments" when a more common one would have been more appropriate. Guess that Ted needs to prove to all of the snobs and elitists in the Times Select audience that he is one of them...
[[Ted Koppel declares, "I cannot help but see that the industry in which I have spent my entire adult life is in decline and in distress."]]
What this Alfred E Neuman look alike is saying is that he is pi$$ed because the oldstream media has finally been exposed as the democratic house organ that they have been for the last 50 years and that they are being called on the carpet for it. I will never forget how this fruitcake sucked up to a communist vietnamese farmer and attacked John O'Neil during the Swiftvet interview. I wanted to puke.
Semper Fi'
Jarhead
That's the only thing he got right. He and his elitist pals in the media are the reason why the industry is in decline.
Yep, its the echo chamber for the Dems.
The short version: Ted misses the old monopoly the hard left had on journalism.
You nailed it.
An extinct Dinosaur telling Mammels how to survive!
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
To paraphrase one of Ted's former colleagues, "that's the way it was".
"I cannot help but see that the industry in which I have spent my entire adult life is in decline and in distress."
What does Ted Toupee call going to Vietnam to bolster Kerry's claims and interviewing commies for his story?
How stupid does Ted Koppel think Americans are and what they think about his P&M sessions?
Simplified... Ted goes DNC to DNC and does editorial for DNC.
Ah yes, the backbone of the liberal media. Where seldom is heard, a discouraging word....about liberals.
Excellent point.
In a national sense, how important do you think the murdered-young-white-female (Natalee Hollaway, Lacie Peterson, etc.) stories Fox covers interminably are?
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