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American Morning

Sound Off: More Turmoil at ABC News This Morning

Aired March 06, 2002 - 08:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Now to this morning's "Sound off," word of more turmoil at ABC News this morning. Cokie Roberts, co-host of the ABC News program "This Week," says she'll be leaving that show after the November elections. This comes during the highly publicized flap over ABC'S pursuit of David Letterman, and whether it's giving up on Ted Koppel's "Nightline." "Nightline," of course, has been ABC's late night franchise for two decades now, and it appears the network is looking to replace Koppel's news program with something completely different, and far more profitable.

David Letterman in a "New York Times" op-ed piece yesterday -- this is completely incorrect. Actually, it was Ted Koppel who responded to ABC's pursuit of Letterman, and the network executives claim that "Nightline" has lost its relevance. We're going to share a little bit of that later on, but the very public discussion about the Koppel show raises a question about the future of network news itself.

Joining us from New York constitutional lawyer Ann Coulter and from Washington Cliff May, former RNC communications director.

Good morning, welcome.

CLIFF MAY, FMR. RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Good morning, Paula. Good morning, Ann.

ANN COULTER, NEW YORK CONSTITUTIONAL LAWYER: Hi there.

ZAHN: So, Ann, I'm going to start with you this morning. How much does the public care about what happens to "Nightline?"

COULTER: Probably not as much as the editors of the "New York Times," who are inconsolable over the end of "Nightline." I've never seen so much editorial opinion masquerading as news, and their descriptions of this program, the much admired "Nightline," the top journalist Koppel, you know, you know they're not talking about Rush Limbaugh when they start throwing in adjectives like that, and I think the public should be pleased that finally a little competition has been introduced into television.

It's going to take a long time for television executives to get used to this great new world of competition. But someday, I think we won't be mourning the loss of a program as if, you know, the end of the Spice Girls.

ZAHN: So you're not so concerned about the whole issue of public service and public trust.

COULTER: No, I think is public service, you know, they're going to have to respond to the public and what the public wants, rather than, for example, putting on Walter Cronkite with his left-wing propaganda every night. Finally, we have a little competition introduced, and I think you'll see changes in a lot of ways, all of them pleasing to the public.

ZAHN: We're hearing a theme here, Cliff. Ted is not Rush Limbaugh, competition. You sort of knew what to expect from Walter Cronkite. I think you're saying the message has been tainted all along, right, Ann?

Cliff, react to that.

MAY: Actually I think whole story was put out by the Pentagon's office of strategic influence, and they were trying to see if they could get away with it.

Seriously look, I don't think what's going on here is that big a deal. I think that we're in an era of specialization. We saw this happen with magazines a long time ago. When I was a kid, people read "Life" magazine. It told you about the news, about Hollywood, fashion, sports, everything. Nowadays, nobody gets life magazine, they get a health magazine, and a business magazine and a sports magazine. With cable TV, same phenomenon, specialization. And over time, when a big news event happens, where do you turn? You turn to CNN, or Fox or MSNBC. I think the networks are going to be over time an entertainment medium mostly.

ZAHN: Cliff, did you see the Tindal Report yesterday? According to the Tindal Report, you wouldn't turn to those two other cable networks for that. They deemed CNN the news-gathering network. I thought you'd need to know that if you made your viewing choices.

MAY: A good point. My apologies for not being much more clear about that point. I think "Nightline's" a wonderful show. I watch "Nightline." I've watched it since I was a kid, but can't you see "Nightline" coming on on CNN, for example. Isn't that more perhaps a more natural home for it? I think that there will be specialization, and it will be very hard for networks to judge all this news gathering, all around the world, just for the 15 minutes or so they do news at 7:00 and then for "Nightline." Don't forget, the morning shows on the networks, there's very little news on "Today" show or "Good Morning America" or any thing like that. If people want news they'll turn to people like you.

And by the way, there's also a migration of people like you, people like Jeff Greenfield from the networks over to the news stations, which is what CNN and others are.

ZAHN: And there's a very good reason for it. That's the sole mission of these cable news networks.

MAY: And, look, if you turn on cable, you can also see the sci- fi Network, the golf network, the health network, all those things. Specialization is the trend of the future. It's not going to dissolve network news overnight.

COULTER: Can I disagree that?

ZAHN: You can disagree with that, Ann. We expect you to. Go ahead.

COULTER: I want to remind you that I was here.

I don't know if you will or won't see specialization. I mean, you don't see that much specialization in other competitive media, such as, you know, magazines, newspapers, radio stations. It's not like Rush Limbaugh had to go the way to take number one radio host where there's a lot of competition, as if he had to go sports all the time, fashion all the time. He does politics, all sorts of different politics. I think news is still very popular. I think you see that on cable stations, but the beauty part is we know longer have to rely on a few oligarchs deciding what they're going to jam down the American people's throats, because slowly and slowly, the consumer will have some choice, as there's more competition.

MAY: Actually, I think you're right and I'm right as well, Ann, because look at Rush Limbaugh runs on talk radio stations all around the country. There are also sports talk stations. There's also bluegrass stations, and rock stations and classic rock stations. A lot of competitions, but each medium specializes in what it does best. What the networks used to be and probably can't be in the future. You'd do there and hear Walter Cronkite, and then you'd have Sid Caesar or Milton Beryl to make you laugh. You had three networks, and they presented everything you wanted.

Now, as with magazines, I think you go to your cable and you say, what do I want now? Do I want the news, or do I want to learn how to decorate my bathroom, or do I want to learn something about nutrition?

COULTER: Right, or do I want to hear from something other than the Democratic Party line?

MAY: Look, if you're talking on that, you're going to get no disagreement from me, but there's no question -- go ahead, I'm sorry.

ZAHN: That's fuel for another debate. We have to leave it there this morning, Cliff May, Ann Coulter. I think collective thought is here that anybody in broadcasting that comes in on a Monday morning and has a job should be grateful for that. That's how much of a sea change we've seen in our industry.

All right, thanks you two. Hope to see you later on in the week.

COULTER: Thank you.

MAY: Bye.

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