ABC Information president Kim Godwin is out on the community.
Debra OConnell, president, Information Group and Networks at Disney Leisure, and Godwin shared the information in inner memos despatched to workers Sunday night time.
Godwin advised workers that after reflecting on her tenure, “I’ve determined to retire from broadcast journalism.”
“Anybody who’s keen about what we do is aware of there’s no different enterprise prefer it, so this was not a straightforward or fast choice,” Godwin continued. “However after appreciable reflection, I’m sure it’s the proper one for me as I look to the longer term and prioritize what’s most necessary for me and my household.”
In her memo, OConnell mentioned that she would lead ABC Information within the interim.
“In the intervening time, I’ll oversee ABC Information and I’m wanting ahead to working with the management crew as we forge a brand new path ahead collectively,” OConnell wrote. “Thanks to your persistence and understanding by means of this era of transition.”
Godwin joined ABC Information in 2021 after a protracted profession as an govt and producer at CBS Information.
Nonetheless, she was layered in February of this yr, with the Disney veteran OConnell tasked with merging ABC Information and the ABC TV stations enterprise. Godwin had signed a brand new deal to stay at ABC Information at the moment, although the restructuring restricted her authority considerably.
Her tenure had confronted some public challenges, maybe most notably the suspension and in the end the firing of GMA3 co-hosts Amy Robach an TJ Holmes final yr. She had additionally been a goal of grumbling from workers, although few nationwide newsroom leaders have been spared from that lately.
On Saturday, the Nationwide Affiliation of Black Journalists launched a press release addressing among the experiences, writing that “there appears to be an intentionality to quote nameless sources as Godwin’s detractors, coupled with using derogatory or stereotypical phrases to explain her. In the meantime, these experiences are completely ignoring sources and information that talk to Godwin having vital help contained in the group.”
The NABJ added that it deliberate to fulfill with ABC and Disney executives to debate the matter.
Learn OConnell’s and Godwin’s memos under.
NOTE FROM DEBRA OCONNELL TO HER TEAM:
Staff,
I wished to share Kim’s observe under. Dana and I wish to take this chance to specific our deepest gratitude to Kim for her service as president of ABC Information. Kim has navigated this crew by means of consequential occasions in our world, and he or she did so with respect for the model and occupation – and for that and extra, we thank her.
Our repute and credibility are hard-earned, and we’d additionally wish to acknowledge the extraordinary work you ship every day. Because the No. 1 information community for 12 consecutive seasons and counting, ABC Information is house to the perfect within the enterprise. From morning by means of daytime, night and past, this crew stands prepared 24/7 to serve our nation with the information, individuals and occasions that form our world.
In the intervening time, I’ll oversee ABC Information and I’m wanting ahead to working with the management crew as we forge a brand new path ahead collectively. Thanks to your persistence and understanding by means of this era of transition. Since assuming this position in February, my aim has been – and can proceed to be – to supply this crew with the means crucial to construct on our success and keep it up the proud custom of ABC Information right into a future stuffed with alternative and innovation.
When you’ve got any questions, please don’t hesitate to succeed in out to me or your senior leaders.
Thanks,
Debra
KIM GODWIN NOTE TO ABC NEWS:
Good night ABC Information,
Forty years in the past, I started my profession recent out of school as an keen and enthusiastic govt producer at WTXL in Tallahassee, the place I used to be accountable for the 6 and 11 p.m. information. The workers was so small, on busy information days, I needed to exit and report too. Little did I do know then what extraordinary alternatives lay earlier than me as I started to chart a path by means of a occupation the place only a few ladies – and even fewer ladies of shade – had been in management roles. So, I understood and appreciated the profound significance of being the primary Black lady to guide a nationwide broadcast information community once I accepted the position as president of ABC Information a bit over three years in the past. It’s each a privilege and a debt to those that chipped away on the ceiling earlier than me to guide a crew whose model is synonymous with belief, integrity and a dogged dedication to be the perfect within the enterprise.
Now, 4 a long time and numerous miles later, having labored in any respect three broadcast information networks and 10 native stations in 9 cities, I’ve come full circle from that small however mighty ABC affiliate in Florida’s panhandle. I’ve determined to retire from broadcast journalism. After matriculating by means of j-school at my beloved Florida A&M College, I’ve been lucky and blessed sufficient to have accomplished virtually each job there’s on this enterprise, together with anchor, investigative reporter, information director, discipline producer, community/particular occasions govt producer and extra earlier than transferring on to the manager ranks. Anybody who’s keen about what we do is aware of there’s no different enterprise prefer it, so this was not a straightforward or fast choice. However after appreciable reflection, I’m sure it’s the proper one for me as I look to the longer term and prioritize what’s most necessary for me and my household.
ABC Information was No. 1 once I joined the crew and I’m proud to say we’re nonetheless No. 1 – an achievement that’s been punctuated in latest months with the very best honors our occupation has to supply, from the Edward R. Murrow Award for Total Excellence in Tv, to the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award for our groundbreaking “Energy of Water” sequence, to our first-ever Primetime Emmy Award nominations for “Fairly Child: Brooke Shields” and “Aftershock.” And simply final week, our Uvalde documentary, “Print It Black,” received Greatest Characteristic Documentary on the Dallas Worldwide Movie Competition, the place it premiered. I’m notably pleased with our unprecedented Uvalde 365 venture, an unparalleled yearlong dedication to documenting the emotional journey of a neighborhood after a mass capturing.
In 2022, we had been all overjoyed to obtain 41 Emmy nominations, essentially the most in 53 years. We’ve the highest morning information present, daytime community present, night newscast and Friday information journal. We’re constantly No. 1 in all main stay TV occasions, together with, most lately, “Eclipse Throughout America,” in partnership with Nat Geo. And our packages can commonly be discovered within the High 10 on Hulu.
Past awards and scores, our success is maybe finest measured within the individuals of ABC Information. That is an distinctive crew doing distinctive work – collectively. You’re finest in school in each class, and it’s been nothing wanting superior to see you sort out task after task, delivering complete protection from world wide to our viewers at a time when truthful reporting is crucial to the way forward for our nice nation.
We take delight in masking all communities and assembly our audiences the place and after they want us, and no endeavor higher exemplifies this than ABC Information Reside. After I began, it was the little streaming practice that would; now, because of your onerous work and dedication, it’s an enormous practice that may – and does, day-after-day. Collectively, on Hulu final season, we launched “Influence X Nightline,” a weekly information journal whose episodes are commonly among the many most watched content material on the platform.
We ought to be particularly pleased with our success with ABC Information Studios, which we constructed from the bottom as much as turn into what’s now a premiere nonfiction and documentary studio, making greater than 120 hours of award-winning content material a yr. We additionally established the primary local weather unit among the many broadcast information networks. So many inventions and initiatives in what feels just like the blink of an eye fixed. Collectively, we dedicated to a cultural shift, the place individuals may very well be their genuine selves, feeling seen and heard, whereas doing their finest work. For all these causes and extra, I depart ABC Information and this occupation with the sincerest sense of delight, accomplishment and gratitude. My coronary heart is stuffed.
I wish to thank Dana Walden and Debra OConnell for at all times making certain we had the sources and help to do our jobs. And eventually, thanks ABC Information for the love, help and inspiration. Over time, a whole lot of you’ve gotten despatched emails, texts, and made telephone calls which have lifted my coronary heart. On this consequential election yr, as we glance to the months forward, the significance of what we do can’t be overstated. Keep in mind, there’s pleasure in journalism.
I depart with my head held excessive and need all the crew continued success.
#oneabcnews
In religion and favor,
Kim