Kim Godwin’s Exit Raises New Questions About ABC News’ Future
Kim Godwin hoped to build ABC News’ future by cutting out some of its past.
Tasked, ostensibly, with shaking up a culture of the Disney-backed news organization that pit anchors against one another and led to claims of intolerable behavior behind the scenes, Godwin was supposed to revamp a storied journalism hub without losing any of the impetus that spurred employees to make shows such as “World News Tonight” and “Good Morning America” the most-watched in their category.
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But the ABC News president, who was still working Monday after sending out a letter Sunday announcing her retirement following a shaky three-year reign, lost the support of much of the news operation by installing an array of senior executives who proved difficult to work with, while ousting veterans who had the respect of their colleagues. She also moved slowly, often taking weeks to make important decisions about programming and personnel, according to multiple people familiar with the newsroom, whether those choices be tied to renewing a streaming program or figuring out what to do with Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes ,the former “GMA3” anchor duo whose romantic involvement with one another spilled out from behind the camera in late 2022 and early 2023.
Godwin can point to several achievements during her tenure. ABC launched a new studio aimed at producing streaming content, harnessing high-power anchors like George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts with new production deals. She kept “The View” on course while friction developed among some of the show’s panelists following the coronavirus pandemic. And “World News Tonight” and “GMA” have maintained their status as the most-watched news shows in their dayparts.
And yet, other challenges remain. NBC News and CBS News have grown or revamped streaming operations that seem to have gained a bigger toehold in the daily conversation. And “GMA,” the linchpin of ABC News’ finances, has seen its audience in a crucial category — viewers between 25 and 54 — tumble enough that CBS’ third place “CBS Mornings” is breathing hard down its proverbial neck. ABC News has also seen talent depart, including Cecilia Vega, who jumped to CBS News’ “60 Minutes” last year, or, more recently, Jonathan Greenberger, the unit’s Washington bureau chief. Luring new talent and keeping current reporters happy might be difficult, because ABC News has been without a top talent executive for months.
Now ABC News, once an autonomous unit within ABC and Disney, is being melded with the operations of the company’s local stations, much in the same way that Paramount Global has smushed CBS News with CBS-owned stations and its syndication unit. Little wonder that viewers of various CBS News properties now see both national reporters as well as those from different regions, with little separation between them, or attempts to link Drew Barrymore’s daytime show occasionally with “CBS Mornings.” The cost of newsgathering and content gets amortized when personnel can be used in multiple ventures — national, local and streaming.
ABC News seems headed down a similar path. Godwin had been essentially demoted in February, when Disney dispatched Debra OConnell, a veteran operator who has spent time at WABC and in ad sales, among other places, to oversee her work, serving as a buffer between Godwin and Dana Walden, the executive in charge of all of Disney’s television and streaming businesses.
Once happily aired as part of a public service to audiences, TV news has become something exceedingly more complex. Some advertisers, fearful of seeing their ads attached to reports of global pandemics, war, and hot-talk opinion shows, have moved their dollars elsewhere. And viewers, too, are increasingly getting the latest headlines from different venues, according to Pew Research Center. Eighty-six percent of U.S. adults in a November survey said they often or sometimes get news from a smartphone, computer or tablet, with 56% noting they did so often. The number is going up: 49% said they often got news from digital devices in 2022 and 51% said the same in 2021. Pew found the portion that gets news from digital devices outpaced those who get news from television.
Broadcast and cable news are proving more resilient against digital rivals than newspapers and local news programs, but the simple fact of the matter is that with so much information available digitally, one person’s “Good Morning America” is another’s e-mailbox jammed with A.M. newsletters.
For the foreseeable future, OConnell will run ABC News directly. But people familiar with the newsroom are already sketching out a potential scenario under which Simone Swink, currently the executive producer of “Good Morning America,” takes more responsibility for ABC News content, while Chad Matthews, who runs ABC stations, gains a stronger hand in the business aspects of ABC’s journalism .
A Disney spokesman said the company declined to comment.
Whatever ABC News’ future trajectory, one thing seems certain. It won’t run well with the “hands-off” strategy that Godwin embraced. While Godwin took part in daily calls and routine matters, ABC News staffers have grown accustomed to news chiefs like Ben Sherwood and James Goldston, who, if they weren’t physically in the control room at the Times Square studio from which “Good Morning America’ is broadcast, they were calling in regularly, all in the early hours of the morning.
With OConnell, ABC News now has a new leader who is known to be “hands-on.” Here’s hoping reporters and anchors like the new embrace.
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