Ted Koppel

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1988 Marshall Blonsky profile:

• ''You had a predisposition,'' Koppel begins. ''I think that's a dumb way to do a story. You came in and you told me, 'Look, I regard you as the most intellectual among the television journalists.' '' As I sit there wounded, he continues. ''At the moment, I've challenged you. You're a little bit hurt. Not much, but a little bit. It's all going through your head right now - does he think I'm a fool? That's all in your body language. Attention: rigid, not wavering, not moving, trying to be in absolute control of yourself, wanting to know where your head is, where your eyes are, where your hands are, steepled, no fluidity, none at all. Now I've got your attention because I'm talking about you. And if I were interviewing you, I'd know that I had you right now. I got you off balance.
• Koppell attributes part of the success he has attained to what he calls the ''Vanna Factor,'' a reference to Vanna White, the letter-turning mannequin on ''The Wheel of Fortune.'' ''Vanna leaves an intellectual vacuum, which can be filled by whatever the predisposition of the viewer happens to be,'' Koppel told me. ''The viewer can make her whatever he wants.'' And so, too, make Ted Koppel. ''In theory, I am equally tough on everyone; therefore viewers can project on me their own politics, their own views, their own predispositions. That makes me the beneficiary of a certain public acceptance that I would not have if I were, let's say, a commentator who expressed his own views on subjects, or a politician.'' Vannafication is a fundamental principle in the understanding of political and media success - and failure. Koppel believes the Vanna Factor now exists in all aspects of American public life. ''Mike Dukakis is using it; George Bush is using it.