ABC News sticks to “GMA3” despite a massive layoff from parent company Disney. Its production staff led to speculation that the third hour of the flagship morning show could be x.
Armin Karamemedovich, who took over as president of ABC News last summer, will speak to rattling staff at All Hands Town Hall in New York on Tuesday afternoon, following a Blood Bus by parent company Disney earlier this month.
“ABC News has no intention of abolishing 'GMA3',” a source with knowledge of the meeting posted.
Karamehmedovic had planned to go to city hall last week. It's just days after dozens of employees in the ABCNews division were let go as part of 200 cuts targeting Disney's entertainment network.
Among the cans was Katherine McKenzie, the executive producer of “GMA3.”
Top-rated “GMA” executive producer Simone Swink was given the task of overseeing programming for all “GMA” brands in various time slots.
Other important restructurings of leadership included the promotion of Seni Tienabeso to Vice President of “ABC News Live.” He manages specific specialized reporting units for the Digital Streaming News Service.
More structural changes included the integration of long-term content divisions such as ABC News Studios, 20/20, Nightline and Impact X Nightline under one leadership umbrella.
Digital and social media operations are more closely integrated with news gathering and other editorial teams.
The layoffs were expanded to ABC News Studios and its digital division, where around 30 staff members lost their jobs.
One of the most important casualties was the data-driven news platform FiveThirtyEight, where all 15 employees were fired.
According to the status newsletter, the Fivethirtyeight team was reportedly informed of the end in a short virtual meeting with Karamehmedovic, but they knew their fate had been sealed after reading about it the night before.
