Nightline
(weeknights at 11:35 p.m., ET)
"Nightline" evolved from the ABC News special broadcasts, "The Iran Crisis: America Held Hostage," which began November 8, 1979, four days after the American hostages were seized at the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, Iran. It premiered as "Nightline" on March 24, 1980, with anchor Ted Koppel. "Nightline's" correspondents are Chris Bury, John Donvan, Dave Marash, and Michel Martin.
"Nightline's" coverage of the Iraq War, which featured Ted Koppel's reporting with the Third Infantry Division, was widely praised for its depth and insight. The New York Times said, "Mr. Koppel brings a cool intelligence and perspective to war coverage." Mr. Koppel, then executive producer Leroy Sievers, and a team from "Nightline" were embedded with the Army's Third Infantry Division for nearly two months, reporting first from Kuwait, and then moving with the Army across the border into Iraq, and finally into Baghdad, chronicling the fall of the city. In 2004, "Nightline" won an Emmy award for its profile of the Marine's Fox 2/5 Company, which is part of the 5th Marine Regimental Task Force, as the company battled its way into Baghdad in the first days of the war.
Considered one of the most innovative programs in broadcast news, "Nightline" is known for its probing interviews, its coverage of global news events, and broadcast innovations like live town meetings -- which have been held in South Africa, the Middle East and across the United States. For 23 years "Nightline" has been committed to providing extensive coverage of events around the globe. Specials from the Philippines, the Middle East, Beijing, Baghdad, Moscow, Bosnia and the Congo have featured in-depth interviews with world leaders and exclusive reports. "Nightline" first broadcast from abroad in Johannesburg, South Africa, in March, 1985 -- a critically acclaimed and highly provocative week-long series. It won the first Gold Baton ever presented in the history of the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award, and was cited as the "the most extraordinary television of the year."
"Nightline's" many notable interviews have included Nelson Mandela; Boris Yeltsin; former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in his first one-on-one interview after his exile; an exclusive interview with Libyan Colonel Muammar Qaddafi; former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Warren E. Burger's first live television interview; former President of South Africa P.W. Botha and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Desmond Tutu in their first appearance together; and President Clinton and former Presidents Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford and Nixon, among many others.
In 1996 "Nightline" inaugurated a new feature on the program to regularly report on race in America. "America in Black and White" premiered as a five-part series in May, 1996, and has continued on a periodic basis. The programs have received a number of awards, including News and Documentary Emmy Awards. In 2002 "Nightline" was widely praised for week-long series on the war in the Congo and an informative look at gay life in America.
Ted Koppel and former "Nightline" producer Kyle Gibson are the authors of "Nightline: History in the Making and the Making of Television." Published by Times Books, it tells the inside story of a news program unique to broadcast television.
Mr. Koppel is a veteran broadcast journalist who has been with ABC News for 40 years. Prior to joining "Nightline," he served for nine years as ABC's chief diplomatic correspondent. Previously he was ABC News' bureau chief in both the Hong Kong and Miami bureaus. Mr. Koppel is based in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Koppel and "Nightline's" correspondents, producers and editors have won every major award in broadcast journalism more than once, including eight Peabody Awards, twelve duPont-Columbia Awards, ten Overseas Press Club Awards, scores of Emmys and many others.