The Iran hostage crisis created Nightline and reshaped nightly network news
Evidence
Iran took up much of the nightly network news immediately after the embassy was seized. For several months ABC scheduled a daily late-evening special, America Held Hostage, and PBS’s MacNeil/Lehrer Report ran an unprecedented number of shows on the crisis. For months Walter Cronkite would add to his “that’s the way it is” a reminder of how many days the hostages had been in captivity: “the two-hundred and seventh day,” and so on. Ted Koppel’s ABC program Nightline, which achieved longevity and success, began because of the hostage crisis. — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 226
Categorization
- CANDY: A neat trivia-level fact: one of America’s most enduring news programs was born directly out of the hostage crisis.
- XREF: Connects to the earlier chapter’s argument that media coverage of Islam often serves institutional interests. — connects to: The 1979 Iran hostage crisis created the demand that birthed a new news format — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 130; ABC launched Nightline mainly as a cheap marketing counter to Johnny Carson. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 131
Related
- The 1979 Iran hostage crisis created the demand that birthed a new news format (similarity 0.91)
- ABC launched Nightline mainly as a cheap marketing counter to Johnny Carson. (similarity 0.91)
- The hostage crisis created sustained nightly anti-Iranian media panic (similarity 0.87)