The indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in the CIA leak investigation was major news. Libby--who promptly resigned from his position as Dick Cheney's chief of staff--is portrayed in the indictment as repeatedly, and deceptively, claiming he learned about Valerie Plame Wilson's classified status at the CIA from reporters. This explains why special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was so adamant about getting reporters to testify.After Friday's announcement of the indictments(10/28/05), however, some journalists seemed to think that the story was not so newsworthy. On ABC's Nightline, Ted Koppel devoted only a few minutes to the indictment before beginning a scheduled town hall meeting on disaster preparedness. Koppel offered the following explanation:
"Scooter Libby's indictment today is indisputably a major story. It was the lead on all the television network news programs earlier this evening. It will be the object of banner headlines in all of your morning newspapers tomorrow. As for its real impact on the lives of most American, though, not much. Not really. That's the strange thing about our business, the news business. Often, what seems so important to us, reporters that is, is of little or no consequence to many of you."
Why Libby's indictment is "of little consequence" is worth some explanation. Valerie Wilson's job at the CIA was preventing the spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction; if blowing her cover jeopardized that work, then this story certainly does affect all Americans.
the above is from an e-mail fair sent out. (you can sign up to get their alerts. i recommend you do.)
ted koppel's so annoying. henry kissinger's best friend has never been a 'brave journalist.' but since he doesn't do live remotes from aruba, people have mistaken his dullness for 'integrity.'
integrity doesn't lead to be embarrassed this year when your mash notes to henry kissinger are made public.
integrity doesn't allow for bullshit claims of 'we were all wrong.' we weren't all wrong. and if ted koppel had any 'integrity' he'd apologize to the american people.
when he leaves his crappy show we'll see tributes (c.i. and were laughing about this today - i hope that cheered up c.i.) and we'll all be called on to applaud him for his service. but he's been a schill for his friends for years.
1 of the guests who's been on nightline the most is henry kissinger, which tells you a great deal.
if he was a real news person, he would have featured anti-war voices and he would have seriously examined the case for war. he didn't and he didn't.
he was 1 more cheerleader and he can't take responsibilty for his actions.
retired? he should be fired. for journalistic malpractice.
instead, he's headed over to hbo where hopefully no 1 will watch him.
a friend said to me today, 'but becky, when we get the crap that replaces him, you'll feel different.'
no, i won't.
i'd prefer crap to disinformation given an air of dignity.
crap is crap. some people like it, some people don't. but most people know it's crap.
with ted koppel's bullshit, people bought into it.
you can hear them whining 'oh ted's leaving' when they should be applauding.
it's been big business, war machinery and other nonsense at nightline. nightline has not served the people or featured them.
and let's be really clear here, this is a program that devoted not just an episode to the anniversary of the crappy film animal house (a favorite of matt cooper which gives you an idea of what a piece of crap it is), ted also 'probed' madonna over 'justify my love.' this was a hiar above a barbara walters special so let's not kid.
republicans wanted to cripple jimmy carter and ted koppel was there. republicans wanted to smear bill clinton and ted koppel was there. scooter libby is indicted and ted koppel is where?
he's bullshit, he's always been bullshit just like he's always looked like a freak with big ears.
pull his ass of the air already.
the common ills
fair
ted koppel
nightline
scooter libby
