No doubt many people are glad that Ted Koppel will become a regular
voice on National Public Radio. He recently ended 25 years with ABC’s
“Nightline” show amid profuse media accolades. But what kind of
journalist goes out of his way to voice fervent admiration for Henry
Kissinger?
NPR has announced that Koppel will do several commentaries per month
on “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” The Associated
Press reported that “he also will serve as an analyst during breaking
news and special events.”
There’s some grim irony in the statement issued by NPR’s senior vice
president for programming: “Ted and NPR are a natural fit, with
curiosity about the world and commitment to getting to the heart of
the story. The role of news analyst has been a tradition on NPR
newsmagazines and there is no one better qualified to uphold and grow
that tradition than Ted.”
But “the heart of the story” about U.S. foreign policy has often
involved deceptions from Washington. And since Koppel became a
prominent journalist, he has been a fervent booster of one of the
most prodigious and murderous deceivers in U.S. history.
“Henry Kissinger is, plain and simply, the best secretary of state we
have had in 20, maybe 30 years -- certainly one of the two or three
great secretaries of state of our century,” Koppel said in an
interview (quoted in Columbia Journalism Review, March/April 1989).
Koppel added: “I’m proud to be a friend of Henry Kissinger. He is an
extraordinary man. This country has lost a lot by not having him in a
position of influence and authority.”
Koppel was heaping praise on someone who served as a key architect of
foreign policy throughout the Nixon presidency. Kissinger -- whose
record as an inveterate liar was thoroughly documented in Seymour
Hersh’s 1983 book “The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White
House” -- orchestrated bloody foreign-policy deceptions from
Southeast Asia to Chile to East Timor.
Kissinger was the smart guy behind the horrendous bombing strategy
that killed hundreds of thousands of civilians in Vietnam, Laos and
Cambodia as he held the diplomatic stage. Kissinger was the smart guy
who colluded with Gen. Augusto Pinochet for the September 1973 coup
and subsequent years of torture and murder in Chile. And Kissinger
was the smart guy who, in his continuing role as secretary of state
after Gerald Ford became president, gave Washington’s blessing for
Indonesian troops to invade and occupy East Timor -- with
mass-murderous results.
Kissinger was a frequent guest on “Nightline,” so reverentially
treated by Ted Koppel that in the summer of 1989 the host turned the
moderating role over to the extraordinary man so he could direct the
panel discussion himself. A few years later, in April 1992, Koppel
was telling viewers: “If you want a clear foreign-policy vision,
someone who will take you beyond the conventional wisdom of the
moment, it’s hard to do any better than Henry Kissinger.”
Koppel’s fervent promotion of Kissinger was no anomaly. The longtime
ABC newsman amassed a notable record of banging the drum for U.S.
foreign policy when it counted the most -- in real time, when a
crisis was underway.
Asked by Life magazine in 1988 if he’d like to be secretary of state,
Koppel responded affirmatively and touted his qualifications: “Part
of the job is to sell American foreign policy, not only to Congress
but to the American public. I know I could do that.”
Koppel made the comment while U.S. foreign policy in Central America
included direct Reagan administration support for a Contra terrorist
army in Nicaragua along with backing for death-squad aligned
governments in El Salvador and Guatemala. Meanwhile, his “Nightline”
program regularly gave aid and comfort to policymakers in Washington.
During the late 1980s, researchers at the media watch group FAIR
(where I’m an associate) conducted a 40-month study of “Nightline,”
865 programs in all. The two most frequent guests were Kissinger and
another former secretary of state, Alexander Haig. On shows about
international affairs, U.S. government policymakers and ex-officials
dominated the “Nightline” guest list. American critics of foreign
policy were almost invisible.
But Koppel, the program’s anchor and managing editor, didn’t see a
problem. “We are governed by the president and his cabinet and their
people,” he fired back. “And they are the ones who are responsible
for our foreign policy, and they are the ones I want to talk to.”
Instead of wide-ranging public discourse, Koppel’s show was primarily
a conveyor belt for elite opinion at crucial junctures. Later, if he
got around to exposing official deception, he was apt to debunk
propaganda that he helped to spread in the first place.
Back in 1987, Newsweek noted a basic disparity between the image and
function of Ted Koppel: “The anchor who makes viewers feel that he is
challenging the powers that be on their behalf is in fact the
quintessential establishment journalist.”
In that light -- considering the overall coverage of Washington’s
foreign-policy establishment by NPR News -- Ted Koppel does seem like
a natural fit.
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Norman Solomon’s latest book is “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits
Keep Spinning Us to Death.” For information, go to:
www.WarMadeEasy.com