Nightline is an American late-night news programme that launched on ABC on March 24, 1980, and airs Monday through Friday from 12:35 am to 1:05 am. It was created by ABC News president Roone Arledge and grew out of a nightly special report covering the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. Once the crisis ended, the programme found a permanent home on ABC’s late-night schedule — and has been there ever since.
For most of its history, Nightline built its reputation on going deeper than a typical newscast. Rather than rushing through multiple headlines, it devoted its half-hour to a single story — through extended interviews, on-location reporting, and investigative journalism. That approach made it one of the most trusted news programmes on American television.
After longtime anchor Ted Koppel retired in 2005, the show shifted to a multi-topic format covering several stories per episode, which it has maintained to this day. Today, Nightline covers a broad mix of breaking news, crime investigations, social issues, celebrity profiles, and human-interest stories.
Juju Chang and Byron Pitts have co-anchored the programme since December 2014. Chang is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and one of the most prominent Asian American anchors in American broadcast news. Pitts is a veteran correspondent with decades of experience covering major national and international stories. Regular ABC News correspondents — including Linsey Davis, Matt Gutman, and Gio Benitez — contribute reporting throughout the week.
