Despite the fact that David Letterman has decided to keep his Late Show at CBS, Ted Koppel and his ABC show Nightline remain a media target.
PageSix.com reports CNBC/MSNBC’s Hardball host Chris Matthews flung a few accusations at Koppel yesterday at the Cable Television Public Affairs Association in Washington. Matthews said Koppel was “mailing it in” and had been “overtaken” by cable news.
On his own show, Matthews said Koppel is “not that good,” and “nobody watches [Nightline].” He even took an informal poll of his studio audience, asking for a show of hands of people who watch Nightline at least two times a week.
Matthews did tell The New York Post later, “Speaking today, I made tough comments regarding the state of the news business….In no way did I mean to imply a lack of personal respect for Ted Koppel.”
The 22-year-old show Nightline was in danger of being booted from its 11:30 p.m. time slot if Letterman had decided to move to ABC. Letterman’s show, producers believed, would bring in a higher rating than the declining viewership Nightline presently turns out.
