Was anyone else appalled by the biased nature of Ted Koppel's moderation of the debate on Jesus Tomb Special?

Question

I must admit that I was completly shocked. Ive pretty much lost respect for him as a journalist, being unable to separate his own emotions from a journalistic piece... His style on the program (Critical Look at the Lost Tomb of Jesus) was attacking towards the film-maker, and friendly towards the religious representatives.

Perhaps most telling was the introduction to the show - I listened to the film-maker as he described how he followed the evidence where it led him, while the other opposing side tossed words such as "archeo-porn" and "I feel this" or "I feel that". Furthermore, it seems the biggest issue that the religious leaders had with the film was that the maker "recreated" scenes for the documentary... What an odd issue to have. It makes me wonder if the Christians complain when the Latter Day Saints put out videos of their faith that have recreations in them. Isnt that the EXACT same thing? Discovery programs of dinosaurs - same thing. Whats the issue?

This isnt about whether or not the actual program on the Jesus Tomb was true or not - Im discussing the debate format set up after the show. Please respond if you watched this show as well.

As a skeptic, I agree that the show left many questions and did not give definitive proof that this was indeed the tomb of the Jesus family. However, it did provide compelling evidence that SHOULD be followed up on.

Answer 1

I agree, he seemed almost hostile toward the film maker, continuously cutting him off. Yet allowing the religious reps to but in and not once cutting them off. Good question!

Answer 2

I didn't watch the whole thing, but you may have missed the beginning, where he introduced the two guys on the right (the ones I assume you're calling the religious reps) as academics - one is an archaeologist, the other was some sort of theologian. So the theologian can be seen as a religious rep, but not the archaeologist.

From the little I saw, it looked like Ted Koppel was opening the debate with the foregone conclusion that the documentary's line of reasoning was specious, but that's because IT WAS. I didn't need a debate to tell me that. The archaeologist in CHARGE of the dig that occurred 27 years ago has already said that there is no way that those bones are Jesus et al. The film-maker twisted the words of the DNA specialists, who said simply that there is no maternal relation between the Jesus bones and the Mariamne bones. The filmmaker, in the debate, said that the DNA guys were saying this was proof that the two were husband and wife. It's not proof. They even showed a film clip of the DNA guys making a public statement that a husband-wife relationship is only one possibility of many. An even after that the filmmaker insisted that they were husband and wife. So... what I saw was Ted Koppel posing some logical, blunt questions to a guy making archaeo-porn. Or better, tabloid archaeology. Sorry if you don't like those terms, but as an archaeologist, one familiar with how archaeological research is actually done, it is obvious that the documentary is all about getting headlines with the flashiest news possible. Not real science.
Sorry.

Answer 3

Yes, Ted is a douche bag