In the latest issue of TIME, former Nightline anchor Ted Koppel spoke with Michael Scherer about his new book, Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath. He also discussed his career, and the state of news today, including the scandal around former NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams. Williams was temporarily suspended in February after questions arose about whether he fabricated stories during his tenure as a journalist; he returned to MSNBC in a diminished role in September. Koppel weighed in, stating:
Look, Brian is an old friend, and I understand what happened to him. There is a difference unfortunately between the kinds of tales that you can tell while sitting at a bar, entertaining your friends, and what you can say when you’re on the air. Brian slipped and took the routine and did it on the air, and he has more than paid the price.
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