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Ted Koppel accepts 2011 Murrow Award from Washington State University

Longtime ABC news reporter and anchor Ted Koppel accepted the 2011 Edward R. Murrow Award from Washington State University Friday night.

When Ted Koppel wrapped up a press availability with members of the news media Friday, some younger members of the press corps gave him a round of applause. Koppel admonished those reporters for doing so; reporters, he said, never applaud at the end of a press conference.

Koppel, the veteran of 43 years at ABC News and winner of every major award in broadcast news, is serious about his profession. And he’s worried about the mix of entertainment and news that Americans are getting from their journalists.

“I think that we’ve sort of taken things, though, too far, much too far. So that now that soft material is out-weighing the hard news, and that’s, I think, very dangerous to a republic,” Koppel said.

Koppel accepted the 2011 Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award from Washington State University Friday night. Three former ABC colleagues—Sam Donaldson, Keith Jackson, and the late Peter Jennings-- were also honored with the award in recent years.

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