Max Robinson, the country's first black network television anchor, knows that people think his recent life-threatening illness might be AIDS, but he refuses to discuss it. ``I take the position that my health is a private matter,'' he told The Washington Post in an interview at his home in Chicago. The Post, in a three-page profile of Robinson published Thursday, noted that ``it is widely rumored that Robinson has AIDS, and he's aware of that.'' ``The curiosity has at times annoyed me,'' Robinson said. ``I'm just not going to get into the subject of what I have.'' Robinson, whose TV career took off when he became an anchorman in Washington in 1969, moved to the ABC network in 1978 when he, Frank Reynolds and Peter Jennings were the three anchors on ``World News Tonight.'' His relations with ABC wer sometimes stormy; he once accused the network of racism and in 1983 embarrassed ABC executives by missing Reynolds' funeral service at which he was expected to escort President and Mrs. Reagan. He left the network in 1984 and worked briefly at WMAQ-TV in Chicago. He has not worked much since, and said he is selling his Afro-American art collection which has been valued at a half-million dollars. Robinson was hospitalized on Dec. 4 last year in critical condition and complaining about weight loss. When he was released nearly two months later, officials refused to discuss his illness. ``While in intensive care, he lay in an isolated room, and when he was moved to another ward, a warning was posted outside his room to medical personnel to gown and glove before performing certain tasks in caring for him,'' the newspaper said. ``I feel pretty good,'' Robinson said. Asked if he was terminally ill, the 49-year-old Robinson replied, ``We all are.''
