ABC NEWS CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT BRIAN ROSS REPORTS ON WHETHER THE ORIGINAL MEANING OF CHARITY HAS BEEN LOST, ON �PRIMETIME,� DECEMBER 8

Also: Diane Sawyer Reports on a Boy Who Survived a Near Fatal Shark Attack; Did An HIV-Positive Mother, Who Is Also an AIDS Dissident, Endanger the Life of Her Daughter?

It�s the season of caring. Throughout New York and cities across the country, it�s the time of charity balls and black-tie fundraisers�glamour, fabulous food and music, big name entertainment. They raise lots of money for worthy causes and, indeed, giving to charity is up. So why are the poor getting less and less? That�s what �Primetime� wanted to know. Has the original meaning of charity been lost? According to Trent Stamp, president of Charity Navigator, a watchdog group: �Americans are giving more and more and more to charity, they�re giving less and less and less to the poorer citizens in this country... I don�t think that our richest citizens really want to be around our poorest citizens.� Which begs the question: What is charity? And since all charities are subsidized by some 40 billion a year in tax-free deductions, should the IRS be treating all charities equally? ABC News Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross asks these provocative questions on �Primetime,� THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.

Also: This past summer in the warm waters off Panama City Beach, Florida, 16-year-old High school basketball star Craig Hutto�s life changed in a split second when he survived a near fatal shark attack. Craig, his older brother Brian and their parents give Diane Sawyer the intense blow-by-blow account of their prodigious battle against the massive strength and iron jaws of a bullshark, and explain how Brian and three nurses who miraculously were on the beach that day saved Chris� life.

Plus: Christine Maggiore, who is HIV positive, had completely rejected conventional wisdom by refusing to take anti-AIDS drugs. But did Maggiore, one of the most vocal AIDS dissidents in the world, not only roll the dice with her own life -- did she endanger the life of her child? Maggiore did not take AZT, a standard treatment to help prevent transmission of the virus from mother to child, during her pregnancy with her second child Eliza Jane four years ago. Maggiore also breast-fed Eliza Jane and her older brother. Last May, Eliza Jane died at age three, and a coroner has ruled that she died of AIDS-related pneumonia. Maggiore rejects the coroners findings, which she calls a witch hunt, and says she did what she thought would be best and safest for her child. An investigation has been opened into the death. Did Maggiore�s daughter pay the price for her mother�s denial? Chris Cuomo reports.

DIANE SAWYER, CHRIS CUOMO, CYNTHIA McFADDEN and JOHN QUI�ONES are the anchors of �Primetime.� DAVID SLOAN is the executive producer.