He brought us instant stature, instant integrity, instant quality that ... defined the early struggling days of ABC News.

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.

But unlike the setup in most organizations, where there's an administrator on top and creative people or doers underneath, I'm basically a doer and I like to have administrative people underneath me.

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.

As you put together a show you have to assume that you are their only source of national and international news. You have to be the paper of record.

A lot of people told me that the job of making ABC News competitive was so difficult and so long that it wasn't worth the trouble.