Journalists love to talk about journalism, so when Stephen Colbert asked veteran newsman Ted Koppel about the state of the industry on Monday's Late Show, he was ready with some thoughts: "The state of journalism — we are so fragmented now, we have so much journalism. Everyone is in competition for a tiny little fragment of the audience. And whereas 30 or 40 years ago, we used to be in competition to try and give people the news they need, now we're in competition to give people the news that they want." Comedy news programs like Colbert's end up doing more serious journalism, "in a funny way," than many news outlets, Koppel said. "Trying to get me fired, Ted?" Colbert quipped.
But Koppel wasn't on The Late Show to talk journalism, he was on to discuss his new book about the power grid, Lights Out, and its vulnerability to cyberattacks. Only the internet is capable of running America's complex power grids, and "the internet cannot be perfectly defended," he explained. China and Russia are already inside the grid, and they could take it out at will, but "they probably won't," Koppel said. "But Iran is getting better at it, North Korea is getting better at it, and most dangerous of all, ISIS." While most Americans are worrying about ISIS carrying out Paris-style terrorist attacks, he added, "the greatest danger of all is that they can attack our infrastructure without ever coming to the United States." Colbert asked about the nightmare scenario, and it's pretty grim. Watch below. Peter Weber
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