Heather Riley today was named executive editorial producer of political programming and affairs at ABC News, and has been assigned to help develop political-news programming for both the Walt Disney Co. unit’s linear programming as well as for Hulu and the streaming-video outlet ABC News Live. She will report to Wendy Fisher, ABC News, SVP of newsgathering.
The special, 24 Months That Changed the World, will air on ABC as a special edition of 20/20 on Wednesday March 30, at 10 p.m. It will stream on Hulu the following day. Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts will lead the program, with contributions from ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, senior national affairs correspondent Deborah Roberts, contributor Chris Connelly, and chief business, technology and economics correspondent Rebecca Jarvis.
Av Westin, an influential television producer who rose from copy boy at CBS News for Edward R. Murrow in the 1940s to help make ABC’s 20/20 newsmagazine a perennial winner of Emmy Awards, died on March 12. He was 92. Above, Westin (r) with the 20/20 host Hugh Downs in 1981. He recruited an A-list group of correspondents for the program.
In Mehta’s newly created role, she will be in charge of ABC News’ multi-platform and direct-to-consumer content strategy and pipeline. She will oversee the development and slate of unscripted documentaries and narrative non-fiction series and specials for linear and streaming. She will also manage the teams at ABC News Live, ABC News’ digital portfolio consisting of the ABC News, Good Morning America and FiveThirtyEight brands and products, and ABC Audio.
Exclusives
The network news division named Stacia Philips Deshishku executive editor and senior vice president, essentially the No. 2 editorial role, overseeing “editorial, strategic and creative cross-platform direction across the news division,” according to an email to staff Wednesday from Godwin. She will also work the top producers at Good Morning America, Nightline and World News, as well as with the booking and integrated content strategy teams.
The action came a day after Goldberg’s comment during a discussion on The View that race was not a factor in the Holocaust. Goldberg apologized hours later and again on Tuesday’s morning episode, but the original remark drew condemnation from several prominent Jewish leaders. “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities,” ABC News President Kim Godwin said in a statement.
Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts revealed late Thursday that she tested positive for COVID-19, which is why she has been absent from the morning airwaves. “Appreciate the concern about my absence this week on @GMA. Unfortunately I tested positive for Covid. Grateful my symptoms have been mild and that I’m doing well. Looking forward to returning as soon as I can,” she tweeted.
ABC News is under fire for how it edited an interview that CDC Director Rochelle Walensky gave to Good Morning America. In the interview, Walensky discussed a study that showed how most vaccinated people who died of coronavirus were also sick for other reasons. But the way the interview was edited, it wasn’t clear she was talking about vaccinated people — and references spread widely online implying she was talking about all COVID-19 victims.
As the nation’s big media companies look to woo new viewers trying to pick their way through a dizzying number of streaming outlets, news divisions are signing up for the battle. A lot of journalists — and the executives who manage them — will head into a decidedly non-traditional competition in 2022, one that won’t necessarily be won with news scoops. They are rushing to produce new kinds of show formats, and relying on anchors both familiar and less so, all in a furious bid to keep a younger generation of consumers from developing new connections with digital upstarts that threaten to siphon them away.
Lisa Boothe interviewed to replace Meghan McCain as the ABC talk show’s in-house conservative. But conversations ended when she publicly refused to get any vaccines.
A lawsuit claims executives knew of misconduct at the key revenue generator Good Morning America but didn’t follow up and discouraged an official report.
Remote Production Yields Many Upsides For News Storytelling, Workflows
Executives from ABC News, Fox Owned Stations, Newsday and Avid said at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum last week that remote production necessities have made an indelible impact on their editorial workflows, from more efficient meetings on Zoom to production agility that will stay with them long after COVID abates.
Flexibility, Agility: News Production’s New Bywords
Executives from ABC News, Fox Owned Stations, WCBS New York, News 12 and FX Design Group took the measure of remote production’s changes on the industry in a NewsTECHForum panel this week. While traditional studio and field reporting are returning, permanent workflow adjustments are also settling in. Above (l-r): Glen Dickson, Jacques Natz, Fabian Westerwelle, Peter McGowan, Mack McLaughlin and Erik Smith.
Remote Production And The Future Of News Storytelling
Executives from ABC News, Fox’s KDFW Dallas, Newsday and Avid will share how they’re reimagining news production and storytelling in a post-pandemic world at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum conference on Dec. 14. Register here.
Executives from ABC News, Fox Television Stations, WCBS and FX Design Group will look at how widespread remote production has charted a new path forward for news operations at TVNewsCheck’s NewsTECHForum on Dec. 14, presented in-person at the New York Hilton and virtually. Register here.
The public affairs show is getting a new set as it looks ahead to the 2022 midterm elections, with co-anchor Martha Raddatz hitting the road.
David Corn, Washington bureau chief at Mother Jones magazine, is aghast at the omissions in the recently released ABC News documentary on former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who authored the famous dossier on Russia and Donald Trump. “Steele and his dossier have always been a sideshow to the main event: the Kremlin’s clandestine assault that helped Trump win,” writes Corn.
The network is planning a monthlong series, Climate Crisis: Saving Tomorrow, which will kick off with coverage of the conference, and continue throughout November, spanning all 7 continents. The series will examine the causes and risks of climate change, and what steps would need to be taken to limit further damage. In addition, ABC News is creating a new unit focused on climate change, led by Chief Meteorologist Ginger Zee, joined by coordinating producer Tracy Wholf and producer Stephanie Ebbs.
Both ABC and the former top producer of its Good Morning America have asked that a sexual-assault lawsuit filed against both of them be dismissed, citing New York’s statute of limitations on harassment claims and alleging the plaintiff in some parts has made charges that are inapplicable.
Stephanopoulos will debut two long-form programs on Hulu, all part of a new production company ABC News is launching with him. George Stephanopoulos Productions is expected to specialize in nonfiction projects that include news-making interviews as well as investigative journalism.
Kirstyn Crawford, an ABC News staffer claims the network retaliated against her after she filed a complaint early this year alleging that she was sexually assaulted by Michael Corn, who was then her boss as the top producer of Good Morning America.
“America Strong” has been a long-running segment on ABC’s World News Tonight. Now it has become an editorial initiative across the news division. ABC News expects to take the segment, which showcases Americans who confront and persevere against obstacles, often in small towns and less covered spaces, to more of its programming across September, with profiles of people helping one another against challenges brought on by the pandemic.
The PR-communications veteran returns to oversee publicity strategies for all ABC News content, including World News Tonight with David Muir, Nightline, Good Morning America, GMA3, The View, Tamron Hall, 20/20, This Week with George Stephanopoulos, ABC News Live, ABC News Radio, ABCNews.com and satellite service NewsOne.
A bombshell lawsuit against the former top producer of Good Morning America has ignited a firestorm behind the scenes, with co-hosts George Stephanopoulos and Robin Roberts allegedly at each other’s throats over the handling of claims that their former boss sexually assaulted multiple women at the network, according to four people with knowledge of the situation.
Godwin had expected to push ABC News’ burgeoning streaming business and enjoy some of the things ABC could offer that CBS News could not, such as the nation’s most-watched evening and morning news programs, World News Tonight and Good Morning America. But a lawsuit filed last week alleging that form GMA executive producer Michael Corn sexually assaulted two different ABC News staffers during his tenure and that ABC knew about the claims for some time has set off a different sort of news cycle of which the new president may not be in full control.
