VETERAN NEWSMAN SAM DONALDSON TO SPEAK AT PITT

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 18 -- Sam Donaldson, 28-year veteran of ABC News and co-anchor of "PrimeTime Live," will be the guest speaker at the University of Pittsburgh American Experience Distinguished Lecture on Monday, March 2, at 8:30 p.m. in the David Lawrence Hall Auditorium, 3942 Forbes Avenue, Oakland. Donaldson's topic is "A View From Washington: The Role of The Media in Politics."

The media are invited to the 8:30 p.m. lecture. Photos and video must be taken from the back of the auditorium. A mult-box will be available.

Co-host of "This Week With Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts," Donaldson began his broadcast career at KRLD-TV in Dallas in 1959. Prior to joining ABC News in 1967, he worked at WTOP-TV in Washington, D.C. as a weekend news anchor and produced and moderated a weekly interview program.

Donaldson is ABC's chief White House correspondent, was anchor of "World News Sunday," and has covered major news stories, including the Vietnam War, Watergate, and the House Judiciary Committee impeachment investigation in 1974.

Included in the list of people Donaldson has interviewed are: Presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush, and Ronald Reagan, Secretary of State James Baker, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, New York Governor Mario Cuomo, Hillary Clinton, Gulf Forces Commander General Norman Schwarzkopf, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell.

The Washington Journalism Review named Donaldson the Best Television White House Correspondent in the Business in 1985, and the Best Television Correspondent in the Business in 1986, 87, 88, and 89. He has won many other awards, among them three Emmys and a George Foster Peabody Award. Donaldson's autobiography, "Hold On, Mr. President," was an international best-seller.

The lecture is presented by the American Experience Program of Pitt's Honors College and is made possible in part by support from Pitt Alumni Association and the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

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