News They Can't Use

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But nothing can compare with the insulting treatment of Koppel, a broadcast-news aristocrat. He has worked at ABC for 39 years, collecting 37 Emmy awards. He built Nightline into a paragon of television journalism and the news division's signature program. "What's frustrating," says an ABC producer, "is that Nightline beats Letterman in the ratings, has beaten him every night since this came out. The show is doing well, and it's frustrating to have to defend it."

Ratings aren't everything, however. Nightline's demographics have aged into Matlock territory, and annual profits have declined from a reported $30 million in 1997 to $13 million last year. (Letterman's show brings in an estimated $25 million in annual profits.) ABC corporate executives also grumble that Koppel makes $8 million a year and is contractually obligated to work just three nights a week.

Though it hurts ABC News staff members to hear it, especially from the lips of a powerful and secretive (or at least anonymous) network executive, Nightline does have a relevance problem. Television has changed significantly since the show debuted during the Iranian hostage crisis 22 years ago. Cable news provides a 24-hour outlet for wonky debate, and the Internet brings headlines home in something akin to real time. Koppel and his producers have wisely adjusted the show's format, shifting from headline news to more in-depth, prerecorded pieces. "The result has been a set of brilliant programs," raves Iger.

But as sacred as Nightline is to news junkies and journalists, the ABC News folks know which way the wind is blowing. They aren't naive, just depressed. "I believe in the capitalist system," says Sam Donaldson, whose future as the host of This Week is up in the air after the retirement announcement of his co-anchor, Cokie Roberts. (According to press reports, ABC is grooming a replacement team of Claire Shipman and George Stephanopoulos.) "We are owned by a company that wants to make money, and I believe that the people who run these companies have to try to do that." But Donaldson thinks subbing Late Show for Nightline would cause a ripple effect. "If the news department is seen as being less serious about the news, it could affect the advertising dollar throughout the news department."

One of the people it might affect, although not necessarily adversely, is ABC World News Tonight anchor Peter Jennings. If Koppel departs, Jennings, as one of ABC's last superpower anchors, could have serious leverage when his contract expires this summer. Industry estimates place his salary at about $10 million a year. ABC could not afford to lose both him and Koppel. In his first statement since being cuckolded by his entertainment-division bosses, ABC News president David Westin declared, "We have every hope, expectation and wish that Peter Jennings will be the principal anchor at ABC for years to come."

While its current melodrama gets the headlines, ABC News shares the same fate as its rival news divisions. All are expected to perform alchemy--to increase market share while cutting the budget and, oh yeah, delivering the news in a lively, interesting and accurate manner. Iger insists that he and Eisner give ABC News their full support. "We cheer them on," says Iger, "on a regular basis. We're constant and avid viewers. We oftentimes suggest things that are attempts to help news grow versus contract: we've urged on many occasions for more programming...so I take exception to any notion that there's a lack of support." The proof may well be in the time slot.

—With reporting by Jess Cagle and Jeffrey Ressner/Los Angeles, Benjamin Nugent and Heather Won Tesoriero/New York