If the journalistic showcase seemed like a celebration, it was. Stretching back to the late 1970s, this galaxy of news stars has helped spotlight ABC News’s reputation as TV’s top journalistic enterprise. When ABC says “More people get their news from ABC News than from any other source,” believe it. “World News Tonight With Peter Jennings,” for instance, has been the evening news champ since 1989. And with ABC’s prime-time lineup sagging, ABC News sparkles even more brightly.

Even so, these days the story of ABC News isn’t as cheery as the Disney World bash suggests. In fact, America’s No. 1 network news division has entered a period of quiet re-examination and worry. Insiders fret about everything from tightening competition in the evening-news race to aging stars to how life might evolve as new members of the Disney family. The tender subject of Arledge’s succession has simmered below the surface at the New York headquarters. And only last month the network’s corporate bosses delivered a profound blow to ABC News, and Arledge. With Disney’s backing, if not its insistence, they indefinitely postponed the planned launch of a 24-hour cable news service. “I think it’s a shame we postponed it,” he told NEWSWEEK in a rare interview. He vowed to “force” the issue back onto the corporate agenda.

On the surface, few people would appear more able than Arledge to keep ABC News reinvigorated. For those who don’t know the story, Arledge was the architect of the news division–a task that was nothing less than a journalistic construction project. After he revolutionized modern TV sports coverage at ABC Sports, Arledge took over the news operation in 1977. He created a star system out of raw in-house talent and luminaries, like Barbara Walters, wooed from rivals with astronomical contracts. He invented or produced successful programming to showcase them–“Nightline,” “World News Tonight,” “This Week With David Brinkley” and “PrimeTime Live.” And Arledge packed his shows off all across the globe to access world leaders and cover world events. “It was Arledge who helped make the global village a reality,” writes author Marc Gunter in the 1994 book “The House that Roone Built: The Inside Story of ABC News.”

Today, Arledge’s challenge centers on his own succession and facing down increasingly aggressive rivals like NBC and mogul Rupert Murdoch. Grooming a successor may be his stickiest problem. Right now, it appears that Arledge, 64, has strengthened his grip on ABC News, largely because Disney CEO Michael Eisner is a longtime friend. (The two first met when Eisner began his career at ABC in the late 1960s.) When asked how long the news job is Arledge’s, Eisner said: “For as far as I can see.” He added: “I plan on tapping Roone for as many creative endeavors as possible.”

But that vote of confidence may be deflating for many on the ABC News team, especially Arledge’s number two, Paul Friedman, executive vice president since 1993. The veteran ABC journalist was the top producer of “World News Tonight” before he moved up. As much as Arledge, if not more, Friedman has been responsible for the news division’s success in recent years, his fans contend. Arledge, they say, has been either too often disengaged or too meddlesome in the late innings. Other observers say sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s in charge. When Friedman rose to the number-two job, “a lot of us thought he would be Roone’s heir,” says Jennings, the anchor. But “none of us believes Boone will go up in smoke,” he says, and “no palace revolt” is in the offing.

So Friedman waits. Even though some insiders thought Friedman was promised the job in his new three-year contract, Arledge told NEWSWEEK that the pact contains no such clause. “There’s nothing in it that deals with his becoming president,” says Arledge, adding that his own contract has “a number of years” to go. Friedman, who wouldn’t comment, hasn’t signed his new deal yet, Arledge said.

Meanwhile, Arledge’s quest to launch a 24-hour cable news service has tested the limits of his power. He badly wants a cable service to rapidly expand the reach of ABC News beyond U.S. viewers and into foreign homes. NBC already has a sizable jump abroad. And CNN is a big far-flung brand name, too. NBC and a wealthy partner, Microsoft, are preparing to launch a U.S. cable news service next month. Murdoch won’t be too far behind. With Disney’s backing, ABC News had been preparing to also dive in. That is, until Murdoch raised the stakes. He lined up a partner, cable giant TCI, and pledged to pay cable operators a king’s ransom to hook up his network to your homes. That spooked Arledge’s corporate bosses. In May, Robert Iger, Cap Cities/ABC’s top boss, pulled the plug. The cost of getting on cable systems had soared “far beyond reason,” explained another exec, Geraldine Laybourne, chief of Disney/ABC’s Cable Networks.

In the interview last week, Arledge, who with Laybourne was planning the service, sounds determined. “I’m very disappointed,” he says. “Ultimately, we have to distribute more around the world.” No one knows how Arledge intends to press the matter. He didn’t say. But convincing Eisner would appear remote. “I supported Bob Iger” in his decision to retreat, Eisner told NEWSWEEK at Disney World.

For now, ABC News has to contend with problems NBC is presenting in the noncable world. Says Jon Mandel, Grey Advertising’s top broadcasting exec: “ABC is ahead, but NBC is coming on strong” on three major fronts. NBC’s Tom Brokaw has inched up toward a ratings tie with ABC’s Jennings in the evening newscasts. “World News Tonight” is trying out new ideas. Recently it aired a segment called “Listening to America,” featuring regular folks speaking their minds. In the morning rivalry, NBC’s “Today” has run ahead of “Good Morning America” for about half a year. Cohost Joan Lunden (the other is Charlie Gibson) could eventually be a casualty. “Good Morning America” recently hired newsreader Liz Vargas, who had been a rising star at NBC. Vargas “could very well turn out to be [Lunden’s] heir apparent,” Arledge says. “She isn’t yet. But she clearly will have a larger role.”

Finally, NBC is on the news-magazine warpath. NBC News has expanded its magazine “Dateline” to three nights. While ABC’s “PrimeTime Live” and “20/20” are among the most popular programs on TV, ABC stumbled with its two latest magazines, “Day One” and “Turning Point,” and retrenched. “Turning Point,” however, will get another weekly shot come this fall. ABC insiders contend that NBC’s momentum is less than it appears. They say, for instance, the rising fortunes are a mere spillover from NBC hit television shows and the National Basketball Association playoffs. The folks at NBC News, especially at the magazines, are “great packagers,” says Arledge. “Maybe we’re going to have to do more of that.” (Sour grapes, says NBC’s chief Andrew Lack.)

NBC or no NBC, some folks at ABC recognize that ABC News could use a little tuneup. But perking up a machine that still has a lot of zip is not a job for your average grease monkey. “To rebuild, replenish, reinvent and re-energize a highly successful news operation,” says Arledge, “is much harder than starting out with nothing to lose.” Boone, you won’t be going back to Disney World if you lose.