Now Isn’t the Time to Lose ‘Nightline’

The tension in the air was palpable that day. It was March 1985 and television history was about to be made. In a small church in Johannesburg, South Africa, Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu fidgeted nervously in his chair.

Hundreds of miles away in Cape Town, in another mock studio, South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha adjusted his tie. At an anchor desk at the South African Broadcasting Corp., Ted Koppel looked into the monitors that displayed his two guests--men who had never really talked to each other, let alone publicly debated.

Back in the U.S., “Nightline” viewers were about to see a live, unedited debate between a leading anti-apartheid activist and a South African government minister at the height of tensions between blacks and whites in that country. The next day, South African citizens would see the same program.

Not only was it riveting television, it was a pivotal moment in the unfolding story of apartheid. The Tutu-Botha debate on “Nightline” was the first in a weeklong series of television programs from South Africa that ABC News boldly aired in 1985.

It was one of many high-quality, pioneering “Nightline” programs that have been broadcast from hot spots around the globe over the past two decades.

But now “Nightline” finds itself in the middle of a debate about its own fate. Top executives from the Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC and its news division, have signaled that they may be prepared to dump “Nightline” to make way for more lucrative programming, even if Disney can’t snare David Letterman from CBS.

Such a move would not only deprive viewers of an important source of news and information and a deeply respected anchorman, it would be a troubling sign of media disengagement from the world at this very dangerous time in our history.

How ironic that Disney’s top brass would consider removing a serious news program from America’s news diet in the middle of a war on terrorism. And that the program they would choose to target would be “Nightline,” which was born out of the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979.

Our nation awakened to a harsh reality Sept. 11. We are not safe from those dark corners of the globe where terrible things happen in countries whose names we cannot remember. Just as the world has grown increasingly interconnected, Disney risks cutting us off from a program that takes us to pivotal, faraway places where events and strangers affect our security.

Last month, “Nightline” traveled to Congo for a weeklong series of programs on that war-torn nation in a part of the world where few Americans go but all need to understand.

As this public spat between ABC News and Disney is unfolding in New York and California, a “Nightline” producer and correspondent are traveling throughout Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics, many of whose names we cannot pronounce but where American soldiers are becoming deeply engaged.

Disney is considering yanking “Nightline” at a moment when the Middle East is boiling over. Koppel’s program returned again and again over the years to the seemingly intractable problems of the Middle East, bringing clarity and understanding to one of the most persistent of global conflicts.

Disney may replace a serious news broadcast with a comedy show just at the time when the United States is sending troops to places like the Philippines, about which Americans know so little.

There is a vital need for context and perspective on these issues and places.

For years, with the steady decline of international news coverage, we have gotten little more than a snapshot of the world in which we live, with the exception of programs like “Nightline.” Fewer and fewer overseas bureaus, fewer and fewer foreign correspondents and less and less time devoted to international stories. Our field of vision has narrowed, eroding public interest in the lives and cultures of others.

But, after Sept. 11, we know that we can no longer afford the luxury of insularity. The price of ignorance is simply too high.

One final irony: It is Disney that brought us a theme park designed to remind us that “it’s a small world, after all.”

Precisely the point.

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Tara Sonenshine is a former editorial producer for “Nightline.” She also served in the Clinton administration as special assistant to the president and transition director for national security affairs.