Ted Koppel Quotes
When there is a conflict between a [network] corporation and the needs of it’s news division, the corporate interest will win out.
Ted Koppel, Television Journalist, Interview with Marvin Kalb, C-SPAN, May 10, 2002
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Ronald Reagan’s media expert, Michael Deaver, developed a new approach to Presidential appearances. He realized that if the President made a 5 or 10 minute speech at an event, the Evening News would choose one or two 10-15 second excerpts, and that was what the vast majority of the country would see. Therefore, he reasoned, the words spoken meant relatively little. It was the image what would last in people’s memory. Therefore, he worked hard to concentrate on getting the right background for the President’s appearance. The Statue of Liberty, a naval ship, a factory at work. The set of images that people would have of the President in these different appearances would define the President in the minds of most people. Deaver would be more concerned that the TV camera’s showed the background scene he had planned (rather than a strange angle or just a close-up of the President’s face) than he would be about which words—sound bytes—the TV station would select. Hence Baker’s observation that words were less important than the TV images.
See Adolph S. Ochs for the original slogan. {601364}
For a similar sentiment, see Eric Cantona {276121}
See Newton Monow’s even harsher indictment of network television: {607708}
Edward James Martin Koppel is a British-born American broadcast journalist, best known as the anchor for Nightline, from the program's inception in 1980 until 2005.
