More than Just a Pretty Face

review by Mike Gange

Off Camera: Private Thoughts Made Public
by Ted Koppel
Alfred Knopf, $38, 320 pages

Ted Koppel is anything except just a pretty face on television. In the more than 20 years he has been the anchor of ABC TV’s Nightline, his talents have earned him nearly every significant media award, including 32 Emmys, six Peabody’s, and nine Overseas Press Club awards.

Off Camera: Private Thoughts Made Public, a chronicle of the year 1999, shows a side of Ted Koppel the TV cameras miss: a deep thinker, a sensitive and loving family man, an historian, a hard worker, a risk taker and above all, someone with an enlightened opinion. Koppel’s first book, In the National Interest, was written with former CBS reporter Marvin Kalb.

Koppel wrote this book as a ‘journalist’s daily journal,’ in which he makes surprisingly candid observations about the major daily news stories as the year unfolds: first, the scandal involving U.S. President Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, then the Senate impeachment hearings, the NATO bombings of Belgrade, the crash of JFK Jr.’s airplane, the school shooting in Littleton, Colo., and the beginning of the presidential race between Al Gore and George W.Bush.

Koppel has been an employee of ABC News for 37 years. When he admits he has moments of doubt that the network, or news media as a whole, is covering a story the way it ought to be, it is refreshing and reassuring. He admits the major players in the news media don’t always get the right angle on the story at first. He says the news media often end up covering a fairly insignificant story for fear of being scooped by their competitors or because ratings rank over quality programing.

The reader gains an appreciation for Koppel, the hard worker, as he conveys the dedication he brings to his work and the love of chasing a good story. "We have been getting by on two or three hours of sleep a night," he writes from Pristina during his July news gathering trip. "The water isn’t working in the hotel, which means the toilets don’t flush and you can’t take a bath... But this story is so gripping none of us are complaining."

He recounts how in September, he addressed a group of students at Notre Dame University in Indiana, telling them lessons he learned as a reporter. He told them: "establish a set of guiding principles...emphasize honesty, fairness and decency. Skepticism is all right, but try not to lapse into cynicism. Provide the voice to the powerless."

Off Camera captures the thoughts and observations of one world-class journalist, who proves he could never be branded the stereotypical ‘ugly American.’ Koppel, journalist and observer, has been around long enough to convincingly convey that honesty and integrity never go out of style.

Mike Gange teaches Media Studies and Journalism at Fredericton High.