Editing Max Robinson (section)

===ABC News and ''World News Tonight''===
In 1978, when [[Roone Arledge]] was looking to revamp ABC's nightly news broadcast into ''[[ABC World News|World News Tonight]]'', he remembered Robinson from a ''[[60 Minutes]]'' interview, and hired him to be a part of his new three-anchor format. Robinson would anchor national news from [[Chicago]], while [[Peter Jennings]] would anchor international news in [[London]] and [[Frank Reynolds]] would be the main anchor from Washington. Robinson thus became the first black man to anchor a nightly network news broadcast. The three-man co-anchor team was a ratings success, and launched spoofs regarding how the three would pitch stories to each other during the telecast by saying the other's name: "Frank"..."Max"...."Peter". 

Robinson's ABC tenure was marked by conflicts between himself and the management of [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] over viewpoints and the portrayal of Black America in the news. He was known by his co-workers to show up late for work or sometimes not show up at all; along with his moodiness, his use of alcohol escalated. In addition, Robinson was known to fight racism at any turn and often felt unworthy of the admiration he received and was not pleased with what he had accomplished. Together with [[Bob Strickland]], Robinson established a program for mentoring young black broadcast journalists.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/03/AR2008100303310.html | title=TV Reporter Bob Strickland; Covered Barry Arrest, Riots | first=Patricia | last=Sullivan | date=October 4, 2008 | page=B6 | access-date=October 6, 2008 | newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref>

During most of Robinson's tenure, ABC News used the [[Westar]] [[satellite]] to feed Robinson's segment of ''WNT'' from Chicago to New York. [[TVRO]] receiver earth stations were also coming into use at the time, and anyone who knew where to find the satellite feeds could view the feed. On the live feed, Robinson could be seen to have a drink or two, but never during the actual aired segment, which led some bars around the country to even have drink specials during the nearly 90 minutes, and invited patrons to come in and see the "Max 'R'" feed. ABC eventually caught on to what was happening, and even resorted to hide what was going on by supering a slide with the words "ABC News Chicago" on the screen during the live feed during times that Robinson was not live over the actual WNT broadcast. In addition, Robinson could often be seen being harsh towards people who worked around him during the live feed.<ref>{{cite book | last=Cooper | first=Robert B. Jr | title=Television's Pirates: Hiding Behind Your Picture Tube | location=Mangonui, Far North New Zealand | publisher=Far North Cablevision, Ltd | year=2006 | isbn=0-9777980-2-X}}</ref> Reynolds died in 1983, and shortly afterward Jennings was named sole anchor of ''World News Tonight''; Robinson was relegated to the weekend anchor post, as well as reading hourly news briefs. 

Robinson left ABC in 1983 and joined [[WMAQ-TV]] in Chicago in March 1984; he was the station's first black anchor. His tenure with the station was rocky, and he had conflicts with some of his colleagues. He was also frequently absent.<ref>Daley, Steve, "Max Robinson, 1st Black to Anchor Network News." ''Chicago Tribune'', December 21, 1988, p. 14.</ref> He was fired from the network after attending a work-related event and never returning to the office. He had entered a drug treatment program at [[Betty Ford Center|Hazelden]], though allegedly without informing his superiors.<ref name="Hall" />

Robinson retired in 1985.<ref name="NT" />