ABC "Nightline" reporter Dave Marash gets a little overwrought in saluting the end of his (and Ted Koppel's) era on the late-night ABC beat:
"I am deeply endebted [sic] to ABC News for giving me 16 years in 'professional Heaven,' Ted Koppel's Nightline. My debt to Ted himself, and to executive producers Tom Bettag and Leroy Sievers is even greater, for the opportunity to travel the world, learn from it and report on it, with some nuance and detail. If news were a religion, Reality would be its diety [sic], and Ted, Tom and Leroy were resolute in building a broadcast which consistently served its audience by serving Reality. Nightline subordinated, or at the very least, harmonized, personality and style to an aggressively transparent presentation of the complexities and complications that define the Real World Out There. Truly, Nightline has been a 'first draft of history,' not of Page 6." (For non-vets of the New York Post, that's their gossip page.)
Expect more encomiums to the golden age of Ted and how he Provided Reality and Context in the days to come. Just don't believe much of it. At the end of it, you'll think they really DO believe that news is like a religion....only truer.
(Hat tip: TV Newser)
