Exclusive Portrait: Former ‘Nightline’ Anchor Ted Koppel in Chicagoland For New Book

Submitted by PatrickMcD on November 29, 2015 - 3:59pm

CHICAGO – For 25 years, Edward James Martin “Ted” Koppel anchored the popular ABC-TV news show, “Nightline.” Since leaving the show in 2005, he has held a variety of journalistic and on-air roles, and most recently has written a new book, “Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath,” indicating that America’s electric grid infrastructure is vulnerable. He appeared at the Old Orchard Barnes & Noble in Skokie, Ill., to promote the book.

Koppel was born in England in 1940, after his parents fled Nazi Germany following the rise of Adolf Hitler, and emigrated to the U.S. when he was 13 years old. After college, he was hired by ABC Radio News in 1963, the youngest ever at that point. He was first on ABC-TV news in 1966 as a Vietnam War reporter, and thereafter had assignments for the network covering the Richard Nixon presidential campaign in 1972 and as U.S. State Department correspondent.

Ted Koppel at Barnes & Noble Old Orchard, November 19th, 2015
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Koppel came into national prominence in 1980, when the late night news program “Nightline” evolved from ABC-TV’s coverage of the Iran hostage crisis. The program counted off the days Americans were held captive, ending at 444 in 1981. The show and Koppel were firmly entrenched by this time, and he hosted the show until 2005. His new book is an investigative piece, reporting on America’s post-9/11 vulnerability regarding potential cyber attacks, especially within the nation’s electric grid.

HollywoodChicago.com photographer Joe Arce was at the Old Orchard Barnes & Noble book promotion, and took this Exclusive Portrait of Ted Koppel.

“Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath,” by Ted Koppel, is available at Barnes & Noble or wherever books are sold.