Newscaster Feuding With Newspapers p. 9

By: Allan Wolper ABC's Sam Donaldson does not appreciate coverage of his
New Mexico ranches by the Wall Street Journal, New York
Post and his own network's World News Tonight sp.

ABC NEWSCASTER SAM Donaldson claims he's been victimized by the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post and "ABC World News Tonight" in stories about his three ranches in New Mexico.
Donaldson has collected $97,000 in federal sheep and mohair subsidies during the past two years on the 18,000 acres he owns in Hondo, N.M.
The story of Donaldson's farm subsidies was broken on March 16 by Bruce Ingersoll of the Journal.
It has brought Donaldson waves of unwanted press attention from critics who see him as a multimillion-dollar hypocrite for accepting subsidies even as he attacks them.
"I'm not someone from Mars who doesn't understand the news business," Donaldson steamed in one of three telephone interviews.
"I don't welcome this kind of publicity. Hey, I'd be a fool to say, spell my name right. I don't subscribe to that. I know the cycle. First the papers, then the wires, then the magazines. Will the books be far behind?"
The ABC news co-anchor of "Prime Time Live" has been upset by the media criticism because he has crusaded on the air against the farm subsidies.
"I am considered a traitor by many people in New Mexico because of my position," Donaldson said. "I think the subsidies ought to be eliminated and phased out."
Donaldson, who news reports say is paid $2 million a year from ABC, believes well-to-do farmers like himself should not be eligible for the subsidies.
"Something like that should be means-tested, as I have said on the air," he continued.