I don't think the news department will have to lie down and play dead like it has in the past. By and large the network has been understanding, but then so have I.

The current wisdom now is that if the three networks are covering the news the same way the difference is the anchor people. I think that won't be true in the future.

I want everybody in the news business to think of ABC before they go any place else. If it costs us an extra few thousand dollars to do that, what does it mean?

I don't expect to win every battle but I think Fred Pierce has enough respect for me that I can go fight my battles and win my share.

One of the towering people in this industry said, why don't you go and make a five-year contract with somebody, make yourself several million dollars and put it away, then go and do whatever you want, work for public TV if you want.

You can only make so much money in life and only enjoy so many creature comforts. The important thing is to do something meaningful-to leave something behind.

In fact, I had a series of offers which would have brought me a lot of money to make films and package TV programs. There were people who said to me, we'll put a million dollars in your bank account tomorrow, which is a hard thing to turn down.