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Revision as of 07:41, 30 April 2004 by Mulad (talk | contribs) (weeknights, 30 minutes, some comparison with other shows)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Nightline is a late-night hard news program broadcast by ABC in the United States. It airs five nights a week (weeknights), usually for 30 minutes. Ted Koppel serves as main anchor.
The program had its beginnings in 1979 during the Iran hostage crisis. ABC News president Roone Arledge felt the best way to compete against NBC's The Tonight Show was to update Americans on the latest news from Iran. At that time, the show was called: "America Held Hostage: Day xxx" where xxx represented each day Iranians held hostage the occupants of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran.
At the end of the hostage crisis in 1981, Nightline had entrenched itself on the ABC programming schedule, and made Koppel a national figure. The program has prided itself on providing a mix of investigative journalism and extended interviews which would look out of place on ABC World News Tonight. Thanks to a video sharing agreement with the BBC, Nightline also repackages some of the BBC's output for an American audience.
The program remains unique in American media, considering its nightly broadcasts. Most other similar shows only air once a week, though usually in a prime-time slot for a full hour. Nightline is usually less sensationalistic than the weekly news magazines (which often emphasize soft news programming), though the program has caused controversy on occasion.
Nightline is also a confidential listening and information service run by university students for other university students. Started in the UK in 1973, it now operates on over 40 University sites, providing listening and support services. See http://www.nightline.ac.uk for more information.