Longtime "Nightline" host Ted Koppel had some harsh words for his former show, noting in an interview with ABC affiliate KOMO-TV that the news show has "become hugely successful, precisely because they are doing what I really didn’t want ‘Nightline’ to do," reports TVNewser.com.
"It’s become a show that’s heavily oriented into entertainment, more than it is in the direction of information and news," Koppel said, according to the story. Koppel was the show’s anchor from its debut in 1980 until he retired in 2005.
Koppel gave the interview during a weekend visit to Seattle, where he received the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award in Broadcast Journalism.
He also confirmed that he has been talking with NBC about the possibility of contributing to its new newsmagazine show, "Rock Center with Brian Williams," as previously reported, although he indicated it’s too early to know whether it will happen.
I think MOST Network “News” has devolved into something more like TMZ than actual information and news. How else do you explain that this AM on GMA where they spent more time on Michael Jackson’s doctor’s trial than they did on the missing missiles in Libya? Sensationalism sells!