When he died last week at age 82, Accuracy in Media founder Reed Irvine was in large part remembered nationally as the frequent antagonist of ABC Nightline Host Ted Koppel when he would show up at town meetings sponsored by the program. Irvine would rail on about the national media and what he considered its leftist slant, getting more publicity for his cause and apparently leading Koppel to cut to a commercial quickly.
But upon his death, perhapsps the most poignant tribute to Irvine came from Ted Koppel himself. "Reed Irvine was, at times, a harsh critic of the television news industry and me in particular," the veteran ABC newsman told HUMAN EVENTS, "but throughout the many years that I knew him, he was never anything but courtly and personally gracious. Just as I would insist that all other enterprises in our society benefit from the presence of a critical and fearless press, so too the press benefits from being held to a high and occasionally harsh standards. Reed Irvine fulfilled that function to the greater good of all."
