One of the reasons why when Elvis dies or the Son of Sam is captured ABC News' ratings go up is because people who don't normally watch news are watching then. The question is, do you want to attract people who don't watch network news or fight over the people who do?

I don't think any industry was ever as closely scrutinized and written about and constantly in the public eye as television.

But if you cover the World Series on the news or do a feature on an Ali boxing match then all of a sudden ears go up all over the place and people say what the hell are you doing. The reason for that is that we're doing something that people are really interested in.

I'm sensitive about my image of being hard to reach.

People also don't care about the daily comings and goings of diplomats and yet we must report it.

I respect the game that goes on of putting this against that, but I don't respect, nor do I enjoy, an awful lot of the actual programs that go on the air.

Most of what we report from Congress they don't care about unless it affects them directly.