Donaldson to speak on campus

Television newsman Sam Donaldson will speak at 7 p.m. today in the Whittenberger Auditorium of the Indiana Memorial Union. The free event is sponsored by the Center on Congress.\nLee Hamilton, a former U.S. Representative and director of the Center on Congress, invited Donaldson to speak this evening, said Charles Wise, director of research and programming for the center. Hamilton will be introducing Donaldson's speech, "A View From Washington."\nDonaldson has been affiliated with ABC News for 40 years and has covered five presidents. From 1977 to 1989 and 1998 to 1999 he was chief White House Correspondent where he covered the presidency for World News Tonight as well as other ABC News programs.\nPreviously, Donaldson was co-anchor of Prime Time Live, and he has covered major events such as the TWA Flight 800 crash, the Vietnam War and U.S. military corruption. He is currently a co-anchor of an ABC News Sunday morning broadcast, has a live Internet newscast and is a correspondent for 20/20.\nIn 1998 Donaldson was named "Broadcaster of the Year" by the National Press Foundation. In addition he has been named "Best Television Correspondent" four times, and he has won three Emmy Awards and a George Foster Peabody Award.\nDeborah Still, programming assistant and Web designer for the Center of Congress, said Donaldson will speak for 20 minutes and then open it up to the audience for a question and answer period.\nWise said he believes students would gain a lot by going to this speech.\n"They will get some insight into the Congress that represents them and the policy issues that Congress is engaging in that impacts students," Wise said.\nJournalism professor Jon Dilts, who teaches graduate seminars on reporting and law, said Donaldson is a legend in American journalism and is someone he believes people would want to hear from.\n"(Students) would get a lot out of it," Dilts said. "He fills the room with his personality, and he is energetic."\n"It is hard to find journalists with a long history and (who are) still in the trenches doing it," Dilts said. "He is still Chief White House correspondent and is not behind a desk."\nJunior Mike Gibson, who is minoring in journalism, said he thinks it will be very beneficial to listen to Donaldson speak.\n"I think that it is really a good idea to have someone of that stature come to speak," Gibson said. "It is great exposure for journalism students to see someone who is really successful in that field"