Ted Koppel (born February 8, 1940) is an American journalist, best known as the former anchorman for ABC's Nightline.
Koppel was born in Lancashire, England after his Jewish parents fled Germany due to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. He graduated from Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science degree and from Stanford University with a Master of Arts degree in mass communications research and political science. He is a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity.
Koppel started working at ABC in 1963, first as a foreign correspondent for the network. He is most widely known as the long-time lead anchorman for Nightline, a position he held when the program began in 1980. Koppel gave up that position on November 22, 2005.
Following Nightline Koppel has taken on a number of roles which span various formats of news media:
He was named managing editor of the Discovery Channel, where he will host and produce news programs covering major global topics and events;
He signed up as an Op-Ed contributing columnist, effective Jan. 29, for The New York Times ;
Starting in June 2006, he will provide commentary to Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Day to Day on National Public Radio, joining NPR's other two Senior News Analysts, Cokie Roberts and Daniel Schorr ;
Arabic television news channel Al Jazeera courted Koppel to join its 24-hour English-language service Al Jazeera plans to launch this year, Reuters reported. Veteran "Nightline" correspondent Dave Marash had already accepted a job with Al Jazeera. "I don't think Tom and I entertained it more than 38 seconds," the former "Nightline" anchor said at an annual winter gathering of TV critics in Pasadena.
