Network News Battle

Sinking fast in the ratings, ABC’s “World News Tonight” is putting more emphasis on hard news, bringing Sam Donaldson, above, back to the White House to terrorize another administration. ABC also named Cokie Roberts chief congressional analyst, giving Donaldson’s “This Week” co-anchor a greater presence on the evening news. Donaldson was ABC’s White House correspondent from 1977 to 1989, when “World News Tonight” rose to the top of the evening news ratings. NBC owns that spot now, and recently ABC has slipped behind CBS into third place some weeks.