Koppel stood out in war coverage

The Courier-Journal ^ | April 16, 2003 | TOM DORSEY

[new cruelty]

A word about those embedded reporters in Iraq before they go back to wearing suits and ties.

There are many who deserve to be remembered, including NBC's David Bloom, who died of a pulmonary embolism while reporting the war, and CNN's Walter Rodgers, who sometimes looked haggard and beat but who was on the job night and day sending back stories.

[new cruelty]

Way to go, Ted...

[Ben Hecks]

Koppel was in Iraq?

[kellynla]

Great gadget! They should pass those out at the Oscars! BTW who is Ted Koppel? Semper Fi

[smith288]

Teds hair alone was his chemical suit.

[Puppage]

We're THIS close to FOX

[ErnBatavia]

got ready for the ordeal by hiking 20 miles through the Washington, D.C., area with heavy backpacks.

Mmmm Hmmm...

[MinuteGal]

Who watched Koppel?

All Koppel-watchers may now emerge from their phone booth.

Leni

[looney tune]

LOL! He was there, but no one knew it because no one watches abc anymore!

[ErnBatavia]

[caisson71]

I'll have to take the word of the Courier-Journel, whoever they are. IMHO, ABC is nearly as bad as CNN and I watch neither.

[COURAGE]

"I blame Al-Jazeera - they are marketing for the Americans!"

[San Jacinto]

Koppel was in Iraq?

That was news to me, also. I can't imagine that any embeds did any better that the 3 from Fox News. They were all great.

[Thebaddog]

Fox has two guys out there who are the listen to guys, in my opinion. Koppel is out of gas. FNN in the morning, and it all makes sense.

[N. Theknow]

Fox News Channel embedded reporter - Oliver North - Semper Fi!

ABC embedded reporter - Ted Koppel - Simply FUBAR!

[husky ed]

He's a real "HERO", they're all "HERO'S. No make that "SAINT'S".

</sarcasm off>

[McGavin999]

Of all the reporters over in Iraq Kopple was the least informative and probably the least watched. As to age, Ollie North is 60 and he was out there with the heavy hitters every single day bringing news from the front line. Ollie DID have an advantage over Kopple, the men he was embedded with actually respect him.

[Spirited]

"Koppel was in Iraq?"

Reaction ditto.

[Beck_isright]

Koppel stood out like having Goebbels cover Patton's advance on Germany. He looked for the negative angle on any story I saw (granted, I did not see all of his coverage). I enjoyed the FNC reporters, especially Ollie North and Bloom more than any others. But that's ok because at this pace FNC will have more viewers than ABC's regular 6:30 news soon anyways and that traitor Jennings will finally get a second look by Disney's management.

[HamiltonJay]

For those of us cable deprived, Nightline has been one of the few available sources for any sort of meaningful information and analysis. I have watched it fairly regularly, and Koppels reports from the field were always forthright and superb IMHO.

I also agree with Koppel on showing war in its true light, even if the war is popular. I do agree the US press should, out of respect to the families at least allow them to be notified before showing bodies on TV... but I don't think the realities of war should be hidden, or ignored. Blot out the faces out of respect of relatives, but don't hide the realities.... War is hell, no amount of technology can change that.

[Servant of the Nine]

If there's a face that sticks out among the dozens we saw atop tanks and racing along with the military toward Baghdad, it might be ABC's Ted Koppel...

How could he not wearing that preposterous "Darth Vader Summer Special" Helment?

Did he borrow it from George Lucas, have it custom made, or just modify the turret of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle?

So9

[Lost Highway]

He was, at 63, among the oldest

I'll take Ollie North, at 60, any day of the week.

[redhead]

LOLOLOLOL!!! Alfred E. Neuman'd dippy face was the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw Koppel's picture. GMTA!!

[smith288]

I like North, but Greg Kelly was the best in my book. I looked forward to his reports from the first report trucking through the desert (I watched from 1am to 3 of sand cruisen') up to him standing in front of Saddams palace. The guy is a former Marine (and harrier pilot). He gets respect from the troops and I give him lots of credit.

My wife is in love with Leventhal... Must be his schnoz.

[OneRatToGo]

From the few times I surfed past ABC during the war I would have to agree that Ted did a good job. He actually was contradicting some of PJ's points during one report. Hat's off to Ted.

[johnb838]

Fox News Channel embedded reporter - Oliver North - Semper Fi!

Ollie was working. Teddie was watching. Ollie was talking this morning about having just finished writing up the citation for a young wounded marine who loaded casualties on Ollies helo while wounded himself. If there was ANY reporter who came out of this as a hero it was Col. North, and he should win an emmy for his work. He was everywhere, encouraging, thanking the men, introducing them, being there for them. He rode on the dangerous chopper flights and was even shot down once. He brought that story to us. My hat is off to him and I wish to GOD he hadn't been borked by the demorats because we need more Generals just like him.

[OneRatToGo]

But Oliver's army is tops!

[N. Theknow]

My wife is in love with Leventhal

Funniest excahnge of the war was Leventhal and Shep Smith when "Ken" the pigeon aka gas sniffer, was apparently eaten by a stray dog.

[KSCITYBOY]

Alfred E. Newman was imbedded for Mad Magazine?

[Semper Paratus]

Alfred E. Newman was imbedded for Mad Magazine?

He was in Baghdad doing Spy vs Spy.

[smith288]

I like this exchange...

Rick: "This here (pointing to ground) is where I sleep. As you can tell its just a hole with a sleeping bag on the ground."

Sheppard: "Thats ok Rick, I have been to your apartment and it doesnt look much different."

[Cuttnhorse]

Well said John and I couldn't agree more.

[caisson71]

And I always thought Koppel was FULL of gas.....LOL

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

I agree with you. Usually I was watching Fox News, but I always made a point to catch Koppel. I thought that his reports were excellent. I have a great respect for him going into a brutal war when he could have just sat at home.

[johnb838]

I thought funniest was when Levanthal asked Timmons if he would be singing Simon & Garfunkel songs on way into B-daddy (in response to something stupid from studio) and Timmons said he was thinking about "Kill 'em All" by Metallica.

Also when he was talking with a supply sargeant about the things the troops wanted most and the sarge said they wanted beer. Levanthal said what HE wanted was a shower, and the sargeant says "well, you can't have that either".

Ken definitely made me laugh more than any of the other reporters, and I bet he had the troops in stitches a lot of the time too.

[freeperfromnj]

He stood out in the cold. I watched hours and hours of war coverage but I didn't catch one second of Koppel. I suppose he'll have those ridiculous town hall meetings when he gets back.

[farmfriend]

ABC's Ted Koppel, who has now returned to his "Nightline" anchor chair.

Who?

[johnb838]

Ken = Rick. Different Levanthal.

[Psycho_Bunny]

I saw him once during the war.

He was wearing shorts. I thought to myself, why aren't the soldiers making him put pants on? Those stick-like, glowing-white legs are going to give away their position.

[Psycho_Bunny]

I was impressed with Rick Leventhal(sp) too. I don't think he took as active a role as Ollie, but it's obvious the Marines around him liked him...and he volunteered for some hard assignments.

[Use It Or Lose It]

If there was ANY reporter who came out of this as a hero it was Col. North, and he should win an emmy for his work.

Colonel North has no problem in showing pride in this country and in the brave young men he's with. I can still recall the guys coming up to his microphone saying, "Fox Rocks, Sir!" It was priceless.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Kelly is still in the reserves.

[Izzy Dunne]

he and his producer, Leroy Sievers, got ready for the ordeal by hiking 20 miles through the Washington, D.C., area with heavy backpacks.

So he DID see some action!

[Between the Lines]

I do not have cable also and watched Koppel every night. I thought his reports were great and mostly non-biased.

[GailA]

Yep, he was there AFTER the worst of the fighting was over. Stayed just long enough to say he was there. VERY boring reports...it was like the Troops weren't talking to him at all. And it appeared he spent his time keeping his Hair perfect.

Media Research on koppel

[Born to Conserve]

My only memory of T.K. reporting this war was him standing at the border repeatedly saying that the invasions has just started, and he was covering it: "this is it" he says.

Of course every other embed on all the other channels were a hunded miles into Iraq at the time.

Really sad.

[lawgirl]

Whatever. 4 words for Mr. Koppel: Greg Kelly, Rick Leventhal. THOSE are the people those of us in the real world will remember.

[anoldafvet]

The Courier Journal is in Louisville, KY and is more commonly known as the Communist Journal, but is not quite as bad as the New York Slimes.

[jporcus]

Nightline has achieved operatic levels of irrelevance.

[jra]

Koppel's slow, halting delivery has always sounded, well, unique among other TV talking heads.

He's done it for so long, it's evolved to a state where it's quite difficult to understand.

I can't stand to hear the guy.

[fly_so_free]

"my wife is in love with Leventhal"

Me too-sigh, blush ;-)
I like his reports. He does alot of great human interest type stories (and the occassional raid or fire fight) about the day to day lives of our troops. The reports he does with Sheppard Smith are good too and provide alot of comic relief.

FOX has a nice blend of reporting, with Leventhal and the two military guys Col.North and Kelly each giving a different perspective of the war. Have to admit that all 3 of them Ollie North, Greg Kelly and Rick Leventhal(blush, sigh) are easy on the eyes.

Seriously though, I bet none of the FOX reporters will get any where near the recognition they deserve. It will all go to people like Koppel and CNN. I only saw Koppel once, he was ridding on a tank, and looked like either he had too much make up on, or, he spent too much time under a Sun lamp.