(RepublicanJournal.org) – Kim Godwin, the president of ABC News, is quitting after about three years on the job. The announcement follows rumors of tension among the network’s top brass. Godwin has been a controversial boss, and she’s taken the blame for many of ABC’s recent difficulties.
On May 5, Godwin, a former CBS News producer who was appointed as ABC president in April 2021, sent an email to staff members telling them she had “decided to retire from broadcast journalism.” She mentioned that she’d been the first black woman to lead a national news network, calling it a “privilege” to have held the post. Other liberal media chiefs, including Disney Networks president Debra O’Connell, were quick to thank her for her work at ABC.
Inside the network itself, though, things might not be so positive. In January, reports emerged of problems inside ABC — and Godwin was getting the blame. Allegedly her leadership style was unpopular, and staff nicknamed her “the Banker” because she didn’t work a regular schedule and had a habit of not being available when major stories broke.
For example, ABC employees say she couldn’t be found when Queen Elizabeth II died in September 2022. On the other hand, she insisted on holding “Happy Birthday” singalongs on daily group calls, pushing one staffer to say, “It’s like we’re in kindergarten.”
Tension reached a crisis point when two married ABC anchors, Amy Robach and TJ Holmes, started a relationship and left their spouses. The story emerged in the tabloids; ABC managers investigated it but decided that while Robach and Holmes had created a controversy they shouldn’t be punished. However, after initially being indecisive, Godwin then took them off air — despite sending out an email saying their affair hadn’t violated company policy.
ABC consistently defended Godwin from the rising groundswell of complaints — but now she’s resigned. That’s going to convince a lot of people there was truth in the rumors after all.
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