ABC NEWS’ JENNINGS IS DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER

NEW YORK —  ABC News anchor Peter Jennings has been diagnosed with lung cancer and will immediately begin a round of outpatient chemotherapy, raising questions about his ability to remain in the anchor chair.

The 66-year-old newsman, a former smoker, had been feeling ill during the last several days and was diagnosed Monday afternoon. He broke the news of his condition to his senior staff at “World News Tonight” in an e-mail Tuesday morning, saying he plans to continue to anchor throughout his treatment.

“There will be good days and bad, which means that some days I may be cranky and some days really cranky!” he wrote. “Almost 10 million Americans are living with cancer. I am sure I will learn from them how to cope with the facts of life that none of us anticipated.”

However, Jennings did not anchor the newscast Tuesday evening because of a hoarse voice. ABC News President David Westin said he expected that Jennings would not be able to do the evening news at times during his treatment.

In a taped statement that aired at the end of “World News Tonight” on Tuesday, Jennings told viewers that, while he quit smoking 20 years ago, he was “weak” and took it up again during the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. He expressed appreciation for the outpouring of good wishes from viewers.

“Certainly, it’s been a long time, and I hope it goes without saying that a journalist who doesn’t value -- deeply -- the audience’s loyalty should be in another line of work,” said the 41-year ABC veteran. He tried to strike a light, reassuring tone, but his voice was raspy and he swallowed frequently.

He concluded on a typically wry note: “Finally, I wonder if other men and women ask their doctors right away, ‘OK, Doc, when does the hair go?’ ”

Jennings’ announcement triggered sadness and dismay among the staff at ABC, where the anchor plays a central role leading the news division and has a reputation as an exacting editor with high standards.

“The people here were ... I think stricken would be a fair word,” said ABC News correspondent Dan Harris, describing the reaction at the network’s Baghdad bureau. “It’s really shocking. There’s a lot of affection for him, and even more, a lot of respect. People feel bad for him personally, and people feel it’s not good for ABC News.”

Jennings’ illness will sideline, at least temporarily, one of the last remaining lions of network news, coming on the heels of the recent departures of NBC’s Tom Brokaw and CBS anchor Dan Rather from their evening newscasts. Another television veteran, Ted Koppel, announced last week that he is leaving ABC, where he hosts “Nightline,” at the end of the year. .

“People have been writing for the last three months that this is an end of an era with Tom and Dan leaving, and now it really could be the end of an era,” said Joe Angotti, a former NBC News executive who is chairman of the broadcast department at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

Jennings begins treatment next week in New York, where he lives with his wife, Kayce Freed. They have two grown children. Neither he nor ABC executives revealed details about the seriousness of his condition.

ABC scrapped plans to send Jennings to Rome for the pope’s funeral on Friday. Instead, “Good Morning America” co-host Charles Gibson, who is already there, will cover the event.

Westin told the network’s staff Tuesday that he and Jennings both expect the anchor to continue the newscast during his treatment “to the extent he can do so comfortably.”

“But, we should also expect him to be off the broadcast from time to time, depending on how he feels,” Westin wrote in an e-mail to the entire staff, adding that Gibson and “20/20” co-anchor Elizabeth Vargas, among others, will substitute for Jennings when necessary.

“Peter’s been given a tough assignment,” Westin added. “He’s already bringing to this new challenge the courage and strength we’ve seen so often in his reporting from the field and in anchoring ABC News. I know that all of us will give him every bit of support that he needs and asks for.”

Brokaw pronounced himself “heartbroken” at the news about his longtime friend. “He’s also a tough guy,” he said in a statement. “I’m counting on him getting through this very difficult passage.”

The prognosis for people with lung cancer largely depends on the stage of cancer, such as whether it has spread to other parts of the lung or elsewhere in the body, and the type of cancer, said Dr. Timothy Morris, of the American Lung Assn. of California and president of the California Thoracic Society.

The one-year survival rate for lung cancer has increased from 37% in 1975 to 42% in 2000, mostly due to improvements in surgery and in combination therapies. The five-year survival rate for all stages combined is only 15%, however. The survival rate increases to 49% when the disease is detected early. Only 16% of lung cancer cases are detected at this stage.

“Chemotherapy has come a long way, and radiation therapy has come a long way,” Morris said. “And there has been a lot of recent work done on combination therapies.”

Jennings, a former foreign correspondent who has anchored “World News Tonight” since 1983, has been in poor health for several months. He did not travel to Southeast Asia to cover the aftermath of the tsunami in December because the network said he had an upper respiratory infection. However, he did cover the elections in Iraq in January.

While he anchored the evening news Friday, he did not participate in ABC’s coverage of the pope’s death on Saturday or lead the newscast on Monday.

His absence from the airwaves fueled speculation internally. “Everyone was asking, ‘Where’s Peter? Where’s Peter?’ ” said one ABC producer. “Nobody knew what was going on.”

Jennings, in his e-mail to the staff, called the cancer diagnosis “quite a surprise” and expressed gratitude for his colleagues. “In all the years I have worked here I have had the most outstanding support from this news division,” he wrote. “Hundreds of you have been like family. It feels good to have such a family right now.”

The message board on ABC’s website quickly filled with postings from viewers wishing Jennings a speedy recovery.

The anchor’s illness could change plans at the network, which had been counting on Jennings to continue on as the face of ABC News for some time. When Brokaw turned over the “NBC Nightly News” to Brian Williams in December, ABC executives saw the shift as an opportunity for Jennings to regain his standing as the top-rated news anchor, a position he last held in the late 1990s.

So far, NBC has held its ratings lead.

If Jennings is unable to continue as anchor, it is unclear who would take his place.

“He has not exactly encouraged the grooming of successors,” said one ABC News staffer who did not want to be named discussing internal matters. “It’s been expected that he would be in there for a while.”

Analysts noted that while ABC has not laid out a succession plan, the network would be able to draw from a deep bench of experienced journalists. Aside from Gibson and Vargas, “World News Tonight Saturday” anchor Bob Woodruff and chief White House correspondent Terry Moran are viewed as possible replacements.

“They have a lot of strength in the morning show and their prime-time shows,” said Tom Wolzien, a senior media analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. “It’s not a company with a lack of good talent.”

Times staff writer Shari Roan contributed to this report.